7-5-0 


m  npiy  ISD 


THE  RABBINICAL  MALMS. 


A  HISTORY 


OF  THE 


Dialecticians  ^  Dialectics 


OF  THE 


MISHNAH   AND  TALMUD, 


BY 


Rabbi  of  the    Tifereth  Israel   Congregation,    Cleveland,    Ohio. 

A 


V 


HLOCH   X  (  (J..  PUBI.ISHEKS,  CINt'IXXATI,  O. 


Entered  aivunliiit:  to  act  of  Congress,  in  tin-  \vnr  ISTti,  l>> 

tn.ocH  &  CO., 

In  the  office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


SRtfl 


PREFACE.       £>5  H  '- 


The  nineteenth  century  has  seen  much  zeal  and  activity 
displayed  in  the  field  of  Jewish  science. 

The  sea  of  Jewish  literature  has  been  crossed  in  all  direc- 
tions, and  in  the  diving  bells  of  inquiry  pearls  of  knowl- 
edge have  been  elevated  and  deposited  in  monthlies, 
pamphlets,  and  special  works  on  history,  philology,  phi- 
losophy, archaeology,  poetry,  Hagada,  zoology,  botany, 
mineralogy,  mathematics,  jurisprudence,  ethics,  etc.;  but, 
the  sea  of  Jewish  literature  being  too  vast,  a  great  many 
branches  are  entirely  neglected  and  unnoticed. 

Actuated  by  the  desire  to  contribute  our  scientific  mite 
to  the  great  fund  of  Jewish  science,  we  are  endeavoring  to 
have  published  a  series  of  small  volumes  on  subjects  of 
Jewish  science  not  treated  as  yet  in  any  modern  language. 

We  begin  the  series  with  "The  Rabbinical  Dialectics," 
D*Hn  ^plj?  *)DD  Oker  Horim  is  the  Talmudical  term 
for  a  dialectician. 

Being  the  first  book  on  Rabbinical  Dialectics  ever  written 
from  an  historical  standpoint,  with  plain  examples  where 
elucidation  is  necessary,  and  covering  the  whole  ground  of 
the  subject,  it  must  be  welcome  to  all  interested  in  the 
internal  development  of  post-biblical  Judaism. 

Putting  our  trust  in  God,  and  in  all  who  are  interested 
in  the  science  of  Judaism,  we  hope  that  our  endeavor  to 
bring  to  light  precious  metals  from  the  mines  of  Jewish 
literature  will  be  crowned  with  success. 

We  render  our  best  thanks  to  "  the  Father  of  the  Union 
of  the  American  Congregations"  and  of  u  the  Azileh 
Bench  Israel  College,"  Rev.  Dr.  I.  M.  Wise,  who,  having 
read  the  manuscript,  was  kind  enough  to  recommend  it  to 
the  publisher. 

THE  AUTHOR. 
CLEVELAND,  0.,  Choi  Hamoed,  Succoth,  5639. 

2096656 


THE  INTRODUCTION, 


A  proper  study  for  all  interested  in  the  internal  develop- 
ment of  Judaism  is  the  Dialectics  of  the  Talmud. 

People  not  familiar  with  the  history  of  the  Talmudical 
Dialectics  must  consider  the  whole  difference  between  the 
Sadducees  and  the  Pharisees,  the  Caraites  and  the  Rab- 
binites,  the  Judaism  of  the  Prophets  and  the  Judaism  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  a  work  brought  about  by  the  Rabbis  ac- 
cording to  their  whims,  vagaries  and  pleasure,  but  by  the 
light  of  the  history  of  Rabbinical  Dialectics  that  differ- 
ence is  an  evolution  from  the  Mosaic  Law. 


no  TTDK  IDIK      n  yenrp 
robn  mow  "i3D  i:n  ^zb  nmnb  -rny 

TDD   Yerus.  Peah.  II. 

The  study  of  Dialectics  is  important,  because  Jewish 
ministers,  no  matter  how  great  their  scholarship  may  be  in 
the  Bible,  in  history,  in  philosophy,  in  homiletics  and  in 
philology,  are  not  capacitated  to  be  Rabbis  unless  they  are 
versed  in  the  application  of  the  Rabbinical  Dialectics  to 
hermeneutic  and  halachic  purposes. 

Gentiles,  to  whom  the  Dialectics  of  Hillel,  Ismael,  Akiba, 
Elieser,  Abaji,  Raba  and  others  is  a  terra  incognita,  can 
not  but  have  very  paltry  and  deficient  notions  about  the 
traditional  progressive  Judaism. 

The  Bible,  until  its  canonization,  was,  as  it  were,  a  living 
and  growing  code,  and  could  easily,  when  the  advanced 
culture,  the  social  relations  and  other  circumstances  made 
it  advisable,  be  altered  by  the  authorities  of  the  age,  but 
after  the  canonization  of  the  Bible,  when  its  words  and 


letters  were  counted,  when  a  great  many  knew  the  whole 
Law  by  heart,  and  would  have  condemned  the  slightest 
alteration  as  a  blasphemy,— then  it  was  possible  only  by 
means  of  Dialectics  to  ingraft  progressive  ideas  upon  the 
stem  of  the  Written  Law. 

The  Dialectics  was  also  the  most  effective  means  in  the 
unification  of  the  Sadducees  and  Pharisees. 

All  innovations  of  the  Pharisees  were  considered  by  the 
Sadducees  heresies,  unfounded  in  the  Bible ;  but  the  con- 
clusive force  of  Hillel's  Dialectics  convinced  them  that 
many  things,  though  not  explicitly  and  plainly  taught  in 
the  Bible,  can  be  derived  from  it  by  the  application  of 
Dialectics,  and  may  be  fully  in  conformity  with  the  spirit 
and  tendency  of  the  Bible  and  the  orthodoxy  of  its  authors } 
nay,  the  Sadducees  were  also  convinced  that,  without  the 
application  of  the  Dialectics,  many  Biblical  passages  were 
unintelligible  and  many  religious  practices  unaccountable. 

THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  DIALECTICS. 

The  orthodox  Israelites  believe  in  the  divine  origin  of 
the  Talmud ;  they  do  not  believe  that  the  wording  of  the 
Talmud  is  divine,  but  they  hold  that  the  dialectical  rules 
and  principles  underlying  the  Talmud  are  divine,  and  the 
view  that  the  Talmud  is  merely  of  an  historical  origin  is 
to  them  a  heterodoxy.  This  question  engaged  consider- 
ably the  attention  of  the  Israelites  several  years  ago,  when 
Rabbi  Hirsh,  of  Frankfort-on-the-Main,  attacked  the  late 
Dr.  Zacharias  Frankel,  of  Breslau,  for  having  accounted 
for  the  origin  of  the  Talmu  I  by  historical  events.  This 
controversy  was  concomitated  by  much  aspersion  and  par- 
tisanship, and  all  the  efforts  of  Rabbi  Hirsh  and  his  party- 
friends  to  prove  the  divine  origin  of  the  Talmud  could  not 
but  confirm  every  rationalist  in  the  conviction  that  the 
divinity  of  the  Talmud  was  a  matter  of  belief  overcome 
by  the  scientifically-educated  rabbis. 

It  is  a  fact  that  Hillel  laid  down  seven,  Ismael  thirteen, 
and  Rabbi  Elieser  thirty-two  dialectical  rules.  If  all  these 
rules  had  already  been  delivered  to  Moses,  then  why  did  not 


VI 

Hillel  mention  them  all?  This  question  was  often  put  and 
answered  from  a  mystical  and  dogmatical  standpoint,  but 
never  from  an  historical  one.  An  historical  point  in  view  was 
something  so  strange  to  the  rabbis  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
and  so  far  above  their  horizon,  that  they  never  accounted 
historically  for  anything  of  that  kind.  Rabbi  Simon,  of 
Chinon,  writes  that  Hillel  knew  well  of  all  the  dialectical 
rules  of  Ismael  and  Elieser,  but  he  would  mention  only 
such  as  were  of  practical  use  for  his  age. 

A  specimen  of  the  unhistorical  mode  of  explanation  the 
rabbis  of  the  old  school  indulged  in  is  that  by  Rabbi  Eliah, 
of  Wilna,  one  of  the  greatest  Talmudists  of  his  age: 
"  The  seven  rules  of  Hillel  respond  to  the  word  '  covenant,' 
which  is  mentioned  seven  times  with  Noah;  the  thirteen 
rules  of  Ismael  respond  to  the  same  word,  mentioned 
thirteen  times  with  Abraham;  and  the  thirty-  two  rules  of 
Rabbi  Eliezer  respond  to  the  thirty-two  "  paths"  taught  in 
the  Cabala." 

It  is  unquestionable  that  some  of  the  dialectical  rules  are 
of  a  very  remote  past,  as  may  be  inferred  from  the  expres- 
sion, Halacha  Le  Mosche  Mesina,  "  the  Sinaic  Traditions  of 
Moses." 

roS-i  IDD  lens*  E^  TDD  n^D^  ro*?n 

IDJ?   TDD 


Rab.  Ashef  Hil.  Mikw.  I. 

The  Mislma  contains  a  great  many  halachas  about  juris- 
prudence, offerings,  and  leprosy,  which  it  established  by 
means  of  dialectical  rules. 

Halachoth  of  that  kind  were  established  when  they  were 
yet  wants  of  the  time,  while  Hillel's  age  was  the  juncture, 
when  such  halachas  became  almost  a  matter  of  the  past. 

It  seems  that  the  maxim  of  deriving  laws  by  analogy 
must  be  done  traditionally. 

1213  .-62p  2NK  1D^  nitf  ITTU  p  D"!N  ]\S 
was  prevalent  at  the  time  when  Hillel  argumented  before 
the  sons  of  Bethyra  ;  otherwise  people  would  not  have  asked 


VII 

for  traditional  proofs,  and  would  have  been  satisfied 
with  the  validity  of  his  analogy. 

According  to  the  Talmud  many  a  crime  committed  by 
the  generals  of  David  was  palliated  by  means  of  Dialectics. 
Synhedrin  49.  £m  Ji^-fl  ji^N  K£?DJJ 

Rabbi  Sherira  Gaon  thinks  that  even  in  the  remotest  past 
the  Jews  had  a  Talmud,  which  differed  from  ours  only  in 
the  wording,  the  arrangement  and  the  compilation,  but 
was,  like  ours,  brought  about  by  the  Dialectics  we  call 
Rabbinical.— Iggereth  Sherirja  Gaon  20-21  Editio  Goldberg. 

THE  JEWISH  DIALECTICIANS  AND  THE  GREEK  SOPHISTS. 

The  term  "  sophist"  meant  in  its  original  adaptation  a 
savant,  and  did  not  savor  of  the  ill-repute  it  became  identi- 
fied with  after  the  Persian  wars,  when,  under  Athens'  supre- 
macy, the  laws  of  Solon  were  superseded  by  a  licentious 
democracy,  and  when  sensuality,  luxury  and  other  vices 
prevailed  and  corrupted  the  manners  of  the  Greeks.  At 
those  times  only  he  might  expect  to  become  influential  and 
powerful  who  could  command  the  charms  of  deceptive  elo- 
quence; and  the  sophists,  seeking  popularity,  riches  and 
success,  did  not  shrink  from  recommending,  defending  and 
carrying  through  anything,  no  matter  how  foul,  how  detri- 
mental and  how  preposterous,  provided  it  secured  them 
their  selfish  designs  and  egotistic  objects.  The  spread  of 
the  ethics  of  Socrates  put  a  stop  to  the  maxims  of  the 
sophists,  and  it  was  Socrates'  immortal  merit  that  exposed 
and  laid  bare  the  fallacy  of  the  sophists. 

Sophistry  of  that  kind  and  to  the  extent  which  it  prevailed 
among  the  Greeks  could  not  flourish  among  the  Israelites, 
where  the  most  successful  and  most  expert  sophist  could 
expect  to  have  scope  only  within  the  limits  of  the  pro- 
phetic ethics.  Hence,  Akiba,  Mair,  Raba  and  others  were 
certainly  men  unstained  by  corruption,  men  of  great  integ- 
rity, disinterestedness  and  humanity.  The  Rabbis  Akiba, 
Ben  Asai,  Ismael,  Mair,  Symmachos,  and  others  were  famil- 
iar with  the  Greek  language  and  philosophy,  but  it  is  hard 
to  ascertain  what  they  adopted  from  the  Greek  sophistry.* 


VIII 

There  is  a  striking  similarity  in  the  sophistry  of  Rabbi 
Josuah  ben  Chananja  and  of  Dyonidisor,  in  the  definition  of 
words  by  Akiba  and  Prodicus,  and  in  the  all-proving  and 
all-disproving  methods  of  Rabbi  Mair  and  of  Gorgias. 

The  Greeks  studied  Dialectics  in  order  to  train  the 
intellect,  to  discover  the  criterions  of  truth,  to  be  able 
to  distinguish  between  essentials  and  casualties,  and  to 
draw  syllogisms  from  experience  and  facts  ;  —  but  to  the 
Rabbis  the  Dialectics  was  the  contents  of  the  methods  of 
interpretation  of  the  Law  and  of  legalizing  views  and  prin- 
ciples which  otherwise  would  have  been  considered  mere 
exotics. 

Sophistry  was  a  prerequisite  for  recommendation  to  a 
seat  in  the  Jewish  Senate.  Synhedrin  17. 


jnw  ID  *«  p-irura 
rrnnn  JD 


THE  RABBINICAL  TERMS  FOR  DIALECTICIANS. 

A  term  is  no  meaningless  sound;  it  conveys  to  man's 
mind  a  certain  idea,  it  designates  a  certain  phase  in  the 
development  of  a  subject,  or  commemorates  a  certain  event. 
The  great  number  of  terms  for  dialecticians  expresses  the 
varietv  of  subjective  modes  of  the  application  of  the  Dialec- 
tics, The  Jewish  dialecticians,  not  being  restricted  by  any 
authority,  vied  with  each  other  in  the  display  of  the  acute- 
ness  and  the  brilliancy  of  their  intellect,  and  thus,  by 
straining  their  intellect  in  their  respective  spheres,  they 
augmented  the  stock  of  Dialectics  with  original  methods. 

mp^CDD^T")^  Arch-scholastic,  Rabbi  Josua  ben 
Chananja.  (Midr.  Genesis). 

/^  a  butting  ram,  Rabbi  Akiba.    (Sifri,  Chuccoth). 
*1!IO    the  Satan's  first-born,  Ben  Dosa's  brother. 
(Yebam.  16). 

(Berachoth  27)  Rabbi  Gamliel's  collegiates. 
Dialectical  interpreters.  Pesachim  54  55. 
Dialectical  interpreters.  Sefri  Ekebh. 


IX 

the  Sophists.  Ketuboth  16. 

i  i 

"•  the  sagacious."    Berachoth  59. 

the    disciples     of    Rabbi    Akiba. 
Ketub  40. 

an  analyzer.     Barach  6. 


2lDD  a  dialectician. 

a  second  Moses.     Chulin  93. 

a  flying  bird.    Succoth  28. 
a  flying  raven.     Chulin. 

IplJJ  an  uprooter  of  mountains.    Berach  28. 
"VS!J  the  he-goat.     Rabbi  Joseh  Haglili. 
a  precocious  dialectician, 
a  ram.    Rabbi  Akiba. 
the  acute.     Rabbi  Jehuda  ben  Jecheskel. 
the  demon.     Yonathan  ben  Usiel.    Fesachim  110. 
a  dissecter.    Sabbat  92. 

the  snake,  a  collegiate  of  Abaji.    Kidushin  29. 
TD^n  a  dialectician.    Symmachos.    Erubim  13. 

Most  of  these  terms  are  figurative  expressions  used  by 
those  who  were  struck  at  first  by  the  peculiarity  of  the 
method  of  the  respective  men,  and  later  these  terms  were 
used  to  designate  a  turn  of  mind  or  the  respective  method. 

Several  of  these  terms  are  expressive  only  of  the  senti- 
ments and  prejudices  of  the  individual  who  first  uttered 
them. 

The  great  number  of  expressions  for  dialectician  is  indic- 
ative of  the  great  attention  given  at  that  time  to  the  study 
of  Dialectics  and  of  the  large  field  it  occupies  in  the  Tal- 
mud. 

Some  rabbis  found  a  pleasant  pastime  in  the  ingenious 
application  of  Dialectics.  Specimens  of  dialectical  amuse- 
ment are  in  the  Hagada  of  Passover,  where  the  Rabbis  dis- 
pute about  the  number  of  plagues  which  came  over  the 
Egyptians. 


X 
THE  LITERATURE  OF  THE  DIALECTICS. 

Up  to  Saadja  Gaon  (892-942)  no  special  book  had  been 
written  on  the  Rabbinical  Dialectics.  There  was  no  need  of 
it.  The  students  entered  upon  the  study  of  the  Talmud  with 
the  presupposition  that  not  manuals,  but  a  diligent  and 
repeated  study  of  the  Talmud  itself,  could  make  of  them 
Talmudical  scholars.  Dialectical  outlines  like  that  speci- 
men in  the  Halachoth  Gedoloth,  53 
served  only  halachic  purposes. 

In  the  age  of  Saadja  Gaon  the  metaphysics  made  also  an 
impression  upon  the  methods  of  the  study  of  the  Talmud. 
Philosophically-trained  rabbis  tried  to  be  methodical  also 
in  the  study  of  the  Talmud,  and  that  gave  an  impulse  to 
write  special  books  011  Rabbinical  Dialectics. 

The  seven  dialectical  rules  of  Hillel  are  mentioned  in  the 
Tosefta  Syhedrin,  7;  in  the  Pirke  by  Rabbi  Nathan,  37,  and 
in  the  introduction  to  the  Torath  Cohanim. 

The  thirteen  rules  of  Rabbi  Ismael  are  mentioned  in  the 
introduction  to  the  Torath  Cohanim,  but  the  thirty-two 
rules  of  Rabbi  Elieser  Haglili  are  scattered  in  the  Talmud- 
ical writings.  Samuel  Hanagid  (born  993)  is  the  first  of 
whom  we  know  had  collected  them  in  his  Dialectics 
Meboh  Hatalmud,  which  forms  the  introduction  to  the 
Babylonian  Talmud. 
Dialectical  books  written  in  the  Rabbinical  idiom  are : 

"Oil  by  Saadja  Gaon. 
"  NISC  by  Samuel  Hanagid. 
""HD  by  Moses  Maimon. 
!,!1  "1£D  by  Simon  Chinon. 
i~i  Tm  by  Isaac  Campanton. 
by  Josua  ben  Levi. 
by  Joseph  Caro. 
3  by  Samuel  Sidilo. 
2  by  Rabbi  Bezalel. 


XI 

Joseph  ben  Virga. 
f^"1  by  Samuel  Algasi. 
2  vi"l  by  Samuel  Algasi. 
i£^3  by  Samuel  Algasi. 
25O£  T  by  Malachi  Montipaskoly. 
E2n  n^nn  by  Jacob  Chagis. 
£1"!  "Oil  by  Jacob  Ohagis. 
C3p7  by  an  anonym. 
HUE  by  Abraham  Ibn  Chajim. 
pip  by  Abraham  Ibn  Chajim. 

&TVD    by  RaJ)bi  Salomon  Jizchaki  in  Kobak's 
Ginse  Nistaroth,  I.-II. 

i£      by  Abraham  ben  David  Pashkiro. 
by  Hirsch  Kanzelnbogen. 
by  Moses  Hajim  Luzzato. 
"  ""IVD  by  David  Nieto. 

p^n  D^IIH  fc^O  by  Jacob  Hirsh  Yalish. 
I 

"YftsE)  by  Baruch  Heilprin. 

"'E'D  by  Jacob  Reifmann. 
^  by  Mordechai  Plongian. 
by  Eliah  Wilna. 
by  Elieser  Efrothi. 

"l^p  by  Seligman  B.  Bamberger.     L. •» 

f™  "'^ll  by  Samuel  Waldberg.     v — • 

The  different  commentaries  on  the  Mishnah  and  Talmud, 
and  the  Rabbinical  responses,  contain  a  great  many  very 
interesting  remarks  and  explanations  on  the  Rabbinical 
Dialectics. 

The  critical  commentator  of  the  Alfasi,  Rabbi  Serachja 
Halevi,  of  Girondi,  called  Baal  Hamoor,  wrote,  in  imita- 
tion of  the  thirteen  rules  of  Rabbi  Ismael,  a  book — \ 


XII 

~ on  thirteen  dialectical  rules  for  the  study  of  "The 
Oral  Law."  It  was  published  with  annotations  by  Rabbi 
Moses  ben  Nachman.  (Zolkiew  5573.) 

The  best  dialectical  books  are  very  useful  and  instructive 
for  well-read  Talmudists,  but  a  beginner,  except  by  obtain- 
ing some  explanations  on  dialectical  rules,  can  not  profit 
much  by  their  perusal  or  study. 

A  catalogue  of  all  Halachic  and  Hagadic  works  on  Dia- 
lectics was  composed  by  Dr.  A.  Jellinek,  Wien,  1878: 


I. 

The  Dialectics  of  the   Tana? im.— The  Teachers  of  the 
Mishna  Epoch.    (37-250  A.  c.) 


HILLEL. 

Hillel,  a  descendant  of  the  royal  family  of  David  and  a 
native  of  Babylon,  was  educated  in  the  college  of  Nisibis 
P3^J,  but,  goaded  by  the  desire  to  obtain  information  on 
some  questionable  subjects,  he  left  for  Jerusalem,  where 
he  became  a  disciple  of  the  chiefs  of  the  Synhedrin,. 
Schemaja  and  Abtaljon,  arid  there  he  stayed  till  Herod  had 
issued  a  proscription  against  the  leaders  of  the  national 
party.  About  forty  of  them  were  put  to  death,  Baba  ben 
Buta,  the  Croesus  of  Jerusalem,  hid  himself,  while  others, 
among  them  Hillel,  retired  to  Babylon. 

Later  when  Herod  pursued  a  more  peacable  policy,  Hillel 
returned  to  Jerusalem,  but  being  a  native  of  Babylon,  he 
had  against  him  the  current  of  popular  prejudices,  and 
he  had  to  wait  his  chance,  which  came  when  the  sons 
of  Batyras,  the  chief  rabbis,  were  at  a  loss  about  a  decision, 
as  to  whether  it  was  lawful  to  slay  the  Paschal  lamb  on  a 
Sabbath,  on  which  day  in  that  year  the  Passover  happened  to 
come.  The  whole  store  of  traditional  knowledge  furnished 
the  Bene  Batyras  with  no  precedent.  The  friends  of  Hillel 
availed  themselves  of  that  occasion  to  bring  him  before  the 
people.  He  being  a  disciple  of  Schemaja  and  Abtaljon,. 
they  proposed  to  call  upon  him  in  the  hope  of  obtaining  an 
explanation.  Some  objected  to  him,  as  he  was  a  Baby- 
lonian, but  his  friends  prevailed;  Hillel  was  called  and 
decided  in  the  affirmative. 

His  argumentation  was  based  upon  the  principles  of 
analogy,  Gesera  Schawa,  and  upon  the  Syllogism  de 
Minore  ad  Majorem,  Kal  We  Chomer: 


—  2  — 

a.  The  analogy:    The  daily  offerings  are   brought    on 
Sabbath  because  they  are  communal,  and  so  is  the  Paschal 
lamb. 

b.  The  analogy:    The  Paschal  lamb  has  in  common  with 
the  daily  offerings  a  stated  time  of  being  brought. 

c.  The  Syllogism  de  Minore  ad  Majorem  :     Upon  the 
intermittance  of  the  Paschal  lamb  is  a  more  severe  punish- 
ment inflicted  than  upon  the  intermittance  of  the  daily 
offerings. 

This  argumentation  combined  with  the  assurance  that 
his  decision  was  traditionally  sanctioned,  won  him  the 
favor  of  the  people  to  such  a  degree  that  the  sons  of  Batyras 
•deemed  it  advisable  to  resign  their  office,  and  Hillel  be- 
came their  successor.  Talmud  Yerush.  Pes.  6, 1. 

That  the  argumentation  on  such  trivial  subjects  sufficed 
to  recommend  him  to  the  highest  dignity  among  the  Jews, 
was  natural  at  that  time,  when  "  Herod  had  put  out  the 
light  of  the  world,"  the  teachers,  and  because  with  Hillel's 
promotion  his  whole  system  of  Dialectics  was  adopted  by 
the  people. 

The  seven  dialectical  rules  of  Hillel  are: 

1.  Kal  Wechomer :    A  syllogism  implicitly  drawn  from  a 
minor  case  upon  a  more  important  one. 

Example:  If  thou  meet  thy  enemy's  animal  going  astray, 
thou  shalt  surely  bring  it  back  to  him  again.  Exod.  xxiii.  4. 

If  that  be  one's  conduct  toward  an  enemy,  how  much 
more  should  one  be  considerate  toward  a  friend. 

The  Pentateuch  contains  ten  Kal  Wechomer  cases:  Gen. 
v.  9;  vi.  3;  xiv.  15;  xvii.  20;  xliv.  8.  Exod.  vi.  12;  Levit. 
x.  19;  Numb.  xii.  14;  Deut.  xxxi.  27;  xxxii.  39. 

2.  Geserah  Schawah.    The  analogy.    A  syllogism  drawn 
from  analogous  cases  and  expressions. 

Example:  See  above  Hillel's  argumentation  before  the 
Batyras.  To  avoid  abuse  of  this  dialectical  rule,  it  was 
agreed  upon  that  only  traditionally-sanctioned  cases  should 
be  valid 

3.  Binjan  Abh.    A  definition  which  is  given  only  once  in 
the  Bible,  and  which  is  definitive  for  all  recurrent  terms, 
irrespective  of  the  subjects  they  refer  to. 


—  3  — 

Example :  "  I  afflicted  ray  soul  with  fasting,"  Psalms 
xxxv.  13,  is  definitive  that  all  self-imposed  affliction,  when 
expressed  by  the  Hebrew  word  inna,  means  fasting. 

4.  Klal  U-prat :     If  there  be  in  the  Bible  a  general  rule 
and  a  specification,  then  the  specification  exemplifies  the 
contents  of  the  general  rule. 

Example:     Leviticus  i.  2  : 

The  General  Rule:  If  any  one  of  you  wish  to  bring  an 
offering  of  the  animals. 

The  Specification:  Either  of  the  herd  or  of  the  flocks 
shall  ye  bring  it. 

This  specification  is  to  exclude  all  undomesticated  ani- 
mals. 

5.  Prat  U-Klal.     When  there  is  a  specification  and  a  gen- 
eral rule  in  the  Bible,  then  the  specification  is  to  say  that 
all  cases  which  can  actually  be  covered  by  the  general  rules 
are,  in  the  widest  sense  of  the  term,  implied  in  the  general 
rule. 

Example:  Deuteronomy  xxii.  1: 

A  Specification:  "Thou  shalt  not  see  thy  brother's  ani- 
mals go  astray  and  withdraw  thyself  from  them,  thou  shalt 
surely  bring  them  back  again  unto  thy  brother;  in  like 
manner  shalt  thou  do  with  his  ass  and  raiment." 

A  General  Rule:  "And  in  like  manner  shalt  thou  do 
with  every  lost  thing  of  thy  brother."  The  general  rule 
means  to  say  that  all  and  everything,  irrespective  of  name 
and  form,  when  found  shall  be  restored. 

6.  Kayozeh  bo  Mimokom  Achar.    The  inductive  method. 
Subjects  unexplained  and  undescribed  in  the  proper  place 
can  become  so  by  a  quotation  of  similar  cases  from  other 
places. 

7.  Dabbar  Halomed  Meinjano.    The  meaning  of   the 
subject  has  to  be  made  clear  by  the  general  contents  of  the 
chapter,  or  by  the  category  of  the  commandments. 

These  seven  dialectical  rules  were  the  foundation  to  the 
whole  Talmudical  structure ;  they  were  the  means  of  in- 
grafting the  scions  of  progress  upon  the  Biblical  stems  and 
the  hammer  whereby  the  consolidation  of  the  Pharisees 
and  Sadducees  was  accomplished.  Hillel,  presiding  over 


-4  — 

the  Synhedrin  without  an  assessor,  wielded  an  absolute 
authority  bordering  on  autocracy,  but,  being  a  genius  in, 
meekness  and  humanity,  he  judiciously  exerted  his  in- 
fluence in  the  interest  of  the  religious  union  and  progress- 
of  his  nation.  Under  the  weak  hands  of  his  son  Simon, 
two  parties,  the  Hillelites  and  the  Schamaites,  arose.  Their 
disputes  favored  the  development  of  Dialectics,  but  the 
dialectical  abuse  to  which  the  amazing  flexibility  of  the 
Hebrew  words  and  the  lack  of  a  system  of  punctuation  ex- 
posed the  Bible,  made  the  conscientious  doctors  look  about 
for  a  common  basis  spared  from  the  tides  of  sophistry 
and  partisanship,  and  to  that  purpose  the  doctors  of 
both  parties  agreed  that  the  Hebrew  word  has,  in  point  of 
casuistry,  to  be  defined  according  to  its  adoption  or  meaning 
in  spelling,  and  not  according  to  the  meaning  it  might  re- 
ceive by  a  varying  pronunciation. 

p  mirr  -am  21  *npD^  DK  en 
into  wpy  '•mi  •'HEP  rvai 

(Synhed.  4.)  .fclpD 
The  meaning  of  a  word,  obtained  by  means  of  pronun- 
ciation, independent  of  spelling,  fniDD?  QN  £^i  was 
only  adopted  when  it  did  not  contradict  the  established  tra- 
dition. A  pre-eminent  dialectician  among  the  Hillelites  was 
Jonathan  ben  Usiel,  the  eldest  of  the  eighty  great  disciples 
of  Hillel,  and  the  translator  of  the  Prophets  into  the  Chal- 
dean language. 

nvw  njraoff  bww  p  jr^r  ^y  rhy  ncN 
^D  TIXD  vby  nncts;  p]iy  to  rmm  pow 

(Succa28.) 

The  College  in  Yabneh. 

Rabbi  Yochanan  ben  Saccai,  the  youngest  of  the  eighty 
great  disciples  of  Hillel,  and,  after  Simon  ben  Gamaliel's 
death,  the  president  of  the  Synhedrin,  anticipated  the  sad 
consequences  of  the  war  with  the  Romans,  but  he  had  not 
influence  enough  to  induce  the  Jewish  parties  to  make 


—  5  — 

peace  with  the  Romans.  Yet,  being  anxious  to  save  the 
Jewish  religion,  he  devised  a  plan  to  establish  a  college 
in  Yabneh,  and  make  that  place  the  center  of  religious 
life—  a  second  Jerusalem.  Wholesome  as  the  measure  was, 
steps  to  its  realization  had  to  be  taken  in  secret.  He  pre- 
concerted with  his  disciples  the  spread  of  a  rumor  of  his 
sudden  death  and  his  removal  in  a  coffin  out  of  the  city 
into  the  Roman  camp.  They  succeeded,  and  he  was  also 
favored  with  an  audience  by  Vespasian.  Yochanan's  well- 
known  antipathy  to  the  war-party,  his  venerable  appearance 
and  his  affability,  gained  him  such  an  ascendancy  over 
Vespasian  that  his  desire  of  starting  a  college  in  Yabneh 
was  instantly  gratified. 

In  the  college  of  Yabneh,  Judaism  underwent  a  new 
phase  of  development;  there  it  was  practiced  and  taught 
in  its  form  and  essence,  without  a  temple,  without  priests, 
and  without  offerings.  Separated  from  all  political  influ- 
ences, the  Jewish  religion  was  there  regenerated,  rejuve- 
nated, and  perpetuated. 

The  Talmudical  writings  contain  no  specimen  of  R.  Jo- 
chanan's  Dialectics,  but  the  great  reforms,  alterations, 
innovations  and  improvements  which  he  introduced  pre- 
suppose, besides  great  authority,  also  great  skill  in 
Dialectics. 

In  Succa  28,  he  is  represented  as  a  dialectician  equal  to 
Abaja  and  Raba  &&  \^]  p  pnV  "2*1 


mmi  nmcrn  rrfe 

Two  of  his  contemporaries  applied  new  dialectical  prin- 
ciples. 

Secharja  ben  Hakazabh  interpreted  dialectically  the  let- 
ter 1  (Waf). 

Example  :  Secharja  ben  Hakazabh  derived  the  interdic- 
tion of  the  staying  of  an  adultress  with  her  husband,  and 
of  marrying  her  seducer  from  the  conjunctive  ^  of 
(Sota  v.  1.) 


—  6  — 

The    second    contemporary,    Nalium   Ish-Gamsu,   inter- 
preted dialertically  the  adding  particles, 
the  precluding  articles,  p")   QJ  "^. 

Example:  Simon  Ilaainsoni  was  engaged  in  interpret- 
ing the  dialectical  meaning  of  the  adding  particle,  pfc$,  in 
the  Bible,  and.  except  in  one  case,  ""pn^K  'H  D&  ne 

made  all  congruent.  Rabbi  Akiba,  in  the  name  of  Nahum 
Ish  Gamsu,  made  also  that  one  case,  congruent ;  it  meant 
to  say :  "  Divines  shall  share  thy  love  of  God."  pfc$ 

HP!  rfQ-^    (Pesachim.) 

The  Socratic  method  of  Jochanan's  teachings,  his  reck- 
lessness in  the  introduction  of  reforms,  his  conferring  of  all 
formerly -enjoyed  prerogatives  of  Jerusalem  upon  Yabneh, 
and  his  eagerness  to  promote  the  study  of  law  as  a  prere 
quisite  of  the  immortality  of  the  Jewish  nation,  made  the 
college  of  Yabneh  a  hot-house  of  dialecticians. 

The  Dialectics  became  a  favorite  study  at  that  time.  It 
trained  the  minds,  it  amused  the  students,  but,  at  the  same 
time, "it  startled  the  conservatives,  and  among  them  no- 
body was  more  alarmed  at  its  spread  than  Rabbi  Gamliel, 
whose  hereditary  privileges  were  at  stake. 

The  removal  of  Rabbi  Yochanan  ben  Saccai  from  Yab- 
neh to  Berur  Chajil  may  be  a  consequence  of  the  secret 
steps  Gamliel  took  to  check  the  liberty  of  discussion  and 
the  freedom  of  interpretation. 

Gamliel  inaugurated  his  career  as  the  head  of  the  Yab- 
neh college  by  the  formation  of  a  Synhedrin,  whose  au- 
thority, like  that  of  the  administration  of  his  grand  sire, 
Hillel,  was  to  be  considered  decisive,  and  thus  put  a  stop 
to  all  liberty  of  individual  decisions.  His  next  effort  was 
to  unite  the  two  great  parlies,  the  Shamaites  and  the  Hillel- 
ites,  and,  after  three  years  and  a  half  of  constant  exertion, 
his  endeavors  were  crowned  with  complete  success. 
(Erub.  13.) 

The  beneficial  result  of  such  a  unification  and  reconcil- 
iation was  felt  in  all  religious,  social  and  political  circles 
among  the  Israelites,  and  in  order  to  secure  its  permanency, 
he  was  cautious  enough  to  adopt  a  middle  course.  To  please 


-7- 

the  rigorous  and  inflexible  Shamaites,  of  whom  an  aban- 
donment of  all  their  time-honored  traditions  could  not  be 
expected,  he  often  decided  according  to  their  traditions, 
though  according  to  the  agreement  of  the  parties,  the 
usages  of  the  Hillelites  were  decisive,  with  the  reserve  that, 
in  private  affairs,  the  Shamaites  should  be  unmolested. 

Such  success  encouraged  Rabbi  Gamliel  to  continue  on 
his  course  of  suppressing  all  liberty  of  interpretation,  and 

he  excluded  every  sophist  from  the  college.  "PO/H  TO 
DJD"1  b*  VQD  DIP!  ] W  Dm-  (Berachoth  28.) 

Such  a  course  was  very  imprudent.  Gamliel  himself  was 
not  invested  by  the  Romans  with  any  authority,  nor  was  he 
superior  in  knowledge  to  his  great  contemporaries,  and  be- 
sides this.  Dialectics  became  a  favorite  study  of  the  age,  and 
to  contest  it  was  synonymous  with  "  swimming  against  the 
current;''  but  Gamliel's  anxiety  to  preserve  all  his  hered- 
itary privileges,  blinded  him  to  the  extent  that  he  could 
not  perceive  the  threatening  danger. 

The  victims  of  his  imperiousness,  who  preceded  and  ac- 
celerated his  fall,  were : 

Rabbi  Elieser  ben  Hyrcanos,  his  own  brother-in-law,  a 
man  of  great  independence,  originality  and  recklessness, 
who  was  excommunicated  for  refusing  to  submit  to  the 
majority. 

Akabya  ben  Mahalalel,  whose  watchword  was,  "  I  had 
rather  be  called  all  my  life  a  fool  by  man  than  to  become 
for  one  moment  a  sinner  before  God,"  lived  according  to 
the  dictates  of  his  own  conscience,  and  would  by  no  means 
submit  to  the  majority.  Such  praiseworthy  resolution  and 
firmness  of  character  were  laid  to  his  charge  as  a  crime ; 
and  he  was  excommunicated. 

Rabbi  Eliezer  ben  Chanoch  was  excommunicated  for 
failing  to  observe  every  minute  particular  of  the  rite  of  the 
hand-washing  before  meals. 

Rabbi  Jose  ben  Tadai  was  excommunicated  because  he 
drew  a  sophistic  syllogism : 


—  8— 

p  •w  ^i  ^  rbwsr  11 
nnm  IIDK  ^JN  .12  imo  ^^  TIPN  no  'y 
P  p  ir«  ra 
'       |ro 


(Derech  Erez.  Raba  L)—          C3  pi 

While  Gamliel  hurled  the  thunderbolts  of  excommunica- 
tion against  eccentric  characters,  he  excused  himself  by 
declaring  that  such  a  course  was  necessary  to  prevent  the 
formation  of  parties  detrimental  to  the  prosperity  of  Juda- 

ism: fc&N  *QN  rra  "i^r^  *6i  •'n^i;  ^nr1^  vx'^ 

blflBPS  Hpl^riD  n*)"1  X^  tut  tllis  apology  could  not 
avail  when  he  dared  to  attack  a  man  like  Rabbi  Joshua 
ben  Chananja,  who  enjoyed  great  popularity,  and  had  en- 
listed the  sympathies  of  the  collegiates. 

The  evening  prayer  was  not  an  obligatory  part  of  the 
daily  service  till  Rabbi  Gamliel  declared  it  so.  Outside  of 
the  college  Rabbi  Joshua  expressed  his  disapproval  of  it, 
but  had  not  the  courage  to  own  it  when  Rabbi  Gamliel 
solicited  his  opinion  inside  the  college.  Gamliel  considered 
it  an  act  of  equivocacy  and  duplicity,  and  insulted  him 
personally.  Such  an  affront  aroused  a  storm  among  Gam- 
liel's  opponents,  which  resulted  in  his  deposition.  The  col- 
leagues thereupon  elected  in  his  place  Rabbi  Elieser  ben 
Asarja. 

Rabbi  Elieser  ben  Asarja  was  a  man  of  mediocrity  in 
knowledge,  but  his  constituents  expected  of  him  pliancy 
and  indulgence  in  the  liberty  of  interpretation  and  discus- 
sion, which  privilege  they  were  denied  by.  Gamliel.  They 
were  not  disappointed.  On  the  very  day  of  his  installation, 
DV21D  Edjoth  I.,  they  carried  all  the  points  they  desired. 

Contrary  to  Rabbi  Gamliel,  whose  regime  it  was  to  ex- 
clude from  'the  college  all  sophists,  Rabbi  Elieser  ben 
Asarja  acknowledged  the  right  of  individual  opinions,  and 
-auctioned  the  principle  of  antagonism.  In  one  of  his  lec- 

tures he  compared  the  law  to  plants.     ,11  1H  "HIDI 


_  f)  _ 

them  it  increases,  and,  though  it  is  differently 
interpreted,  all  the  decisions  are  sustained  by  the  authority 
of  one  shepherd.  (Chagiga  III.)  He  is  also  the  author  of 
a  dialectical  rule  called  CT'ED?  Serauchim,  according  to 
which  the  portions  of  the  Pentateuch  are  connected  in  order 
to  intimate  and  teach  that  which  otherwise  might  have 

been  overlooked,     mim  |C  DTlED  *)UT  /N  " 

•wi  ncra  D^IEW  Ehwb   iib  ncwp 

(Jebamoth,  4).     Remarkable  is  his  independence  of  Akiba 
when  discussing  with  him.     13*^7  llJT^N  "'21  *fo  *1J2K 

H1?  JJEIP  "UN  r«  Dvn  ^-  rone  nnx 

(Nidda72)  —  ^m  in« 


Had  Rabbi  Elieser  lived  in  another  generation  his  knowl- 
edge would  have  sufficed  to  make  him  a  great  authority, 
but  in  a  generation  that  could  boast  a  Rabbi  Akiba,  Habbi 
Tarfon,  Rabbi  Ismael,  Rabbi  Joshua  ben  Chananja,  he  was 
eclipsed  and  had  no  sway  over  the  minds  of  his  grea*t  con- 
temporaries. Very  often  the  collegiates  spoke  slightingly  of 
him,  but  Rabbi  Joshua  ben  Chananja  exerted  all  his  moral 
influence  to  raise  his  authority,  and  he  used  to  say  of  him  : 
UA  generation  which  can  boast  an  Elieser  ben  Asarja  is  no 
orphan." 

During  his  deposition,  Gamliel  deported  himself  with 
such  modesty  and  generosity  that  he  fascinated  even  his 
opponents,  and  when  later  he  became  reconciled  to  Joshua 
ben  Chananja,  the  wave  of  popular  favor  brought  him  back 
again  in  his  former  office,  but  only  co-ordinately  with 
Rabbi  Elieser  ben  Asarja. 

Rabbi  Elieser's  great  contemporary,  Rabbi  Josua  ben 
Chananja,  a  disciple  of  Rabbi  Jochanan  ben  Saccai,  was  a 
very  eminent  sophist.  The  Midrash  Rabba,  Genesis  57, 
pronounces  him  "the  Arch-Dialectician  of  the  Law," 

NrVTiN")   niiTiSDI^r^K  He  was  such  an  expert  in  dis- 

puting with  Gentiles  that  when  he  died  his  contemporaries 
woefully  said:  "What  shall  become  of  us  now,  when  Gen- 
tiles come  to  dispute  with  us?"  (Chagiga  5.) 


—10— 

A  specimen  of  his  sophistry  with  the  Savants  of  Athens 
is  contained  in  the  Talmud. 

Rabbi  Josua.— A.  hybrid  gave  birth  to  a  young  one,  and 
put  upon  its  neck  an  assignment  to  the  father's  house. 

Savants.—  What?    A  hybrid  does  not  bear. 

R.  Josua.— Well,  did  you  not  wish  me  to  amuse  you? 


Savants. — If  salt  loses  its  savor,  how  can  it  be  seasoned  ? 
R.  Josua. — With  a  secundine  of  a  hybrid. 
Savants.— What?    A  hybrid  has  no  such  thing. 
R.  Josua. —  Neither  can  salt  lose  its  savor. 


Savants. —  Can  you  build  a  house  in  the  higher  region  of 
the  air? 

R.  Josua. — Yes,  provided  you  can  furnish  me  there  with 
the  requisite  material. 


Savants. — Where  is  the  center  of  the  earth  ? 

R.  Josua—  Here,  on  this  very  spot. 

Savants.—  Prove  it. 

R.  Josua. —  Bring  me  a  rope  long  enough  to  mete  it. 


Savants. —  Can  you  remove  a  well  ? 

R.  Josua. —  If  you  furnish  me  with  a  rope  of  bran. 


Savants. —  Can  you  stitch  together  a  broken  millstone? 
R.  Josua. — Yes,  if  you  furnish  me  with  a  thread  of  sand. 


Savants. — What  instrument  would  you  use  to  mow  a  field 
planted  with  knives? 

R.  Josua. —  Horns  of  asses ! 


The  savants  placed  before  him  two  eggs,  one  from  a  black 
and  one  from  a  white  chicken,  saying  :  u  Distinguish  them 
apart."  But  Rabbi  Josua  would  not  answer  till  they  had 
decided  between  two  loaves  of  cheese,  one  from  a  black 
and  one  from  a  white  cow.  (Berachoth  8.) 

A  closer  explanation,  as  given  by  the  commentaries,  of 
his  controversy  with  the  savants  of  the  Atheneum,  is  not 


—11— 

in  place  here,  where  it  is  the  purpose  merely  to  represent 
Rabbi  Josua  in  his  capacity  as  a  Dialectician. 

Opposed  to  all  decisions  emanating  directly  from  the 
Mishna,  without  any  consideration  to  dialectical  discussion, 
he  denounced  those  of  his  contemporaries  who  bowed  before 
the  letter  of  the  Mishna  as  "Destroyers  of  the  World." 

jrufc'D  -pno  rohn  amse?  D^iy  ^DB  D\x:nn 

(Sota22.) 

Characteristic  of  his  religious  views  is  his  utterance 
that  "  the  majority  must  decide  upon  the  ground  of  rational 
reasons,  and  dare  not  regard  supernatural  references," 

*?lp    rQD   rrVWD  r^  and  tliat  tlie   whole  frame   and 
bulk  of  the  rabbinical  casuistry  are  as  mountains  hanging 

on   the  hairs  of   biblical  passages.        D^Y?n!"i  D'HlrO 
rnjJCO  (Tosefta  Erubin.) 

The  college,  under  the  presidency  of  a  man  who  had  such 
liberal  views  about  casuistry  and  Halacha,  and  who, 
besides  this,  taught  that  "All  righteous  people,  without 
distinction  as  to  religion,  have  a  share  in  the  happiness 
hereafter"  (Synhed.  105),  and  that  "No  law  shall  be  en- 
acted which  is  not  gratifying  to  the  majority  of  the  com- 
munity "  (Bab.  Bat.  60), —  must  have  been  a  hot-house  of 
free  thought. 

Though  an  opponent  of  Rabbi  Gamliel,  he  was  considered, 
not  only  by  the  people,  but  also  by  Gamliel  himself,  his 
superior  in  wisdom,  at  least  so  he  told  Josua,  when  once 
Josua  would  not  silently  submit  to  his  authority 

After  Gamliel's  death,  Josua  became  the  president  of  the 
Synhedrin. 

Rabbi  Ismael. 

Rabbi  Ismael,  the  founder  of  a  college  in  Kephar-Asis, 
was  a  representative  of  the  old  school  of  Dialectics,  inaugu- 
rated by  Hillel.  His  genealogy  is  veiled  in  obscurity,  and 
that  made  some  think  he  was  the  son  of  Ismael  ben  Fabi, 
whom  the  Israelites  commissioned  to  Rome  to  receive  the 
decision  of  Nero  relative  to  the  encroachments  made  by 


—12- 

Agrippa  II.  in  raising  part  of  his  palace  so  high  that  he 
•  ••ml. I  in-pert  t!i'.>  whole  interior  of  the  temple  court  ;  but. 
others  again  assume  that  he  was  the  grandson  of  the  high- 
prie-t  Ismael  ben  Elisah.  There  is  also  a  tradition  to  the 
effect  that  he  was  ransomed  when  quite  young,  at  Rome,  by 
Rabbi  Josua  ben  Ghana nia. 

Opposed  to  all  perversion  of  passages,  to  the  use  of  pleo- 
nasms, rhetorical  expressions,  and  to  all  the  artifices  of  in- 
terpretation, as  applied  by  Rabbi  Akiba,  for  dialectical 
purposes,  he  made  it  his  paramount  principle  in  interpreta- 
tion of  the  Bible  to  observe  the  Biblical  idiom,  and  not  to 

use  it  for  dialectical  purposes.  "^3  fl&v!}  ulin  !"n2"l 
Q1N-  (Kerithoth  11.) 

From  these  rules  he  deviated  four  times,  and  then  only 
because  the  natural  sense  of  laws  favored  his  allegorical 

interpretation.     Hl^lp*-     'JQ      ^&$>?i2£n    *2^    ^— ™l    "'JH 

Enin1?   in**    mpcDi    anpc1?    ropw    rc^nn. 

(Sota  16,  Jerus.  Kidu.  1,  2.) 

He  was  not  the  author  of  all  the  thirteen  dialectical 
rules  which  are  ascribed  to  him.  His  great  predecessors  in 
the  rational  Dialectics  were  Hillel  and  his  own  teacher, 

Rabbi  Nechunia  ben  Hakana.    p^  ^D*C'~' 

minr.  bz  n«  &nn  rrr.p  rap-  p 

D"1E1  bb-2  rbl2-    (Shebuoth  26.) 
The  thirteen  dialectical  rules  of  Rabbi  Ismael  are : 

1.  Kal  WeChomor.     See  Hillel's  Dialectical  Rules,  I. 

2.  GeseraShawa.  "        "  "  II. 

3.  BinjanAbh.  "        "  li         III. 

4.  Rial  U-Prat.  "        "  IV. 

5.  Prat  U-Klal.  u        "  V. 

'  I 

When  there  is  a  general  rule  and  a  specification,  and  again 
a  general  rule,  then  the  specification  is  explanatory. 

If  a  man  delivers  unto  his  neighbor  money  or  vessels  to 
keep,  and  it  is  stolen  out  of  the  man's  house,  then  he  shall 


-13— 

swear  that  he  did  not  stretch  out  his  hand  against  the 

neighbor's  goods.     (Exodus  xxii.  G.) 

General  rule:  "  For  all  manner  of  trespass." 
Specification:  "For  all  animals  or  raiment.'' 
General  rule:  "For  any  manner  of  lost  things." 
This  specification  denotes  movables  of  intrinsic  value, 

and   excludes   from   this   category   immovables, 

and  movables  of  no  intrinsic  value,  Hl"1COk^- 

1-  vrsh  -pa  *on&'  fei  fe1?  -px  Nine? 

There  are  specifications  which  are  explained  by  general 
rules,  and  vice  versa. 

Example:  Numbers  vi.  3. 

A  specification:  A  Nazarite  shall  abstain  from  vine  and 
strong  drink. 

A  general  rule:  All  the  days  of  his  abstinence  he  shall 
eat  nothing  of  the  grape  vine. 

A  specification:  From  the  kernel  even  to  the  husk. 

This  last  specification  is  to  forbid  the  Nazarite  the  use  of 
all  offal  of  fruit. 

Another  example  :  Numbers  iii.  40. 

A  general  rule:  Count  all  the  first-born. 

A  specification:  The  males  of  the  children. 

In  this  case  the  specification  excludes  the  females,  and 
the  general  rule  excludes  all  who  are  born  unnaturally,  or 
who  are  not  first-born. 

s.  *6  -\nbb  fen  p  Niri  fe^  rmv  *OT  te 
Nir  te  fen  by  ivbb  xbx  KIT  ic^y  by  izbb 

A  case  which  is  implicitly  implied  in  a  general  rule,  and  is 
then  specified,  is  it  to  the  purpose  that  its  peculiarities  shall 
also  govern  every  case  implied  in  the  general  rule? 

Example  :  Leviticus  xx.  2. 

Whoever  giveth  of  his  children  to  the  Moloch  shall  be 
stoned.  This  specification  is  to  teach  that  upon  every  mode 
of  idolatry  the  stoning  is  inflicted  as  a  punishment. 


bsrh  w  ir:yr  wnsy.  Any  case  which 


—  14  — 

is  implicitly  implied  in  the  general  rule,  and  is  specified 
through  a  similar  case,  has  become  so  to  indicate  that  all 
eases  implied  in  the  general  rule  may  equal  in  advantage 
and  merit  the  specified  case. 

Example:  Exodus  xxi.  I'-'. 

The  general  rule:  u  He  that  smiteth  a  man  so  that  he  die, 
shall  surely  be  put  to  death,''  implies  all  murderers  col- 
lectively; but  the  specification  (Deut.  xix.  4):  "And  this 
is  the  case  of  a  man-slayer  who  shall  flee  thither  that  he 
may  live,"  is  to  teach  that  just  as  the  man-slayer  has  the 
advantage  of  the  cities  of  refuge,  so  shall  every  murderer 
nave  all  possible  advantages  of  the  case. 

10.  JIJKD  yyzh  bbzn  p  K*n  bbzi  .THS?  -m  b? 
•venrbi  bprb  NST  ir:yr  xbv  nnx-   Any  case 

which  is  merely  nominally  implied  in  the  general  rule,  and 
is  specified,  then  its  specification  refers  to  all  its  advantages 
and  merits,  and  all  its  disadvantages  and  demerits,  to  the 
other  cases  implied  in  the  general  rule. 

Example:  Deut.  xv.  12:  "If  thy  brother,  the  Hebrew,  or 
the  Hebrew  woman,  be  sold  unto  thee,  he  shall  serve  thee 
six  years,  and  in  the  seventh  year  shalt  thou  let  him  go  free 
from  thee."  But,  in  Exodus  xxi.  2,  the  Hebrew  woman  is 
not  mentioned  :  "  If  thou  buy  a  Hebrew  servant,  six  years 
shall  he  serve ;"  and  again,  Exodus  xxi.  7,  it  reads,  "  If  a 
man  sells  his  daughter  for  a  maid-servant,  she  shall  not 
go  out  as  the  man  servants  go  out." 

The  merit  of  the  specification — the  Hebrew  woman — is, 
that  she  may  leave  before  the  six  years  expire,  in  case  the 
master  die,  and  the  disadvantage  of  that  specification  is 
that  the  master  or  his  son  have  a  right  to  marry  her  against 
her  will. 

11.  "1313  jr6  bb?r>  p  N!Ti  bbn  m-p  131  bz 

mrro  iy  mnr\b  bw  nnx  -«  trin 

C2  P  TO /•  Any  case  which  is  comprised  in  the  rule, 
when  it  becomes  specified  for  a  certain  purpose,  then  the 
specification  has  to  remain  valid  under  all  circumstances 
till  it  is  expressly  recomprised  by  another  passage. 


—  15  — 

Example:  Levit.  xxii.  10:  "They  who  are  born  in  the- 
house  of  a  priest  may  eat  of  a  holy  thing."  Here  are  im- 
plied all  children  of  a  priest;  but  (xxii.  12),  the  married 
daughter  is  excluded,  and  would  remain  so  —  though  her 
circumstances  change  and  she  is  a  widow  —  if  the  passage 
there  (xxii.)  had  not  expressly  allowed  her  to  return  when 
a  widow  to  her  father's  house. 


12.  751DD  "n  -DTI  irjy 

the  general  contents  and  the  end  of  a  portion  have  to  be 
taken  into  consideration. 

Example:  Levit.  xviii.  6:  '•  None  of  you  shall  approach 
to  any  that  are  near  of  kin  to  him."  This  passage  interdicts 
the  intermarriage  of  relatives  altogether,  but  at  its  close  it 
specifies  those  relatives  who  are  allowed  to  intermarry. 


n  Kin?  137  rn  nx  m  a 


Two  contradictory  passages  must  be  reconciled  by  a  third 
one. 

Example:  "All  fat,  all  blood  ye  shall  not  eat."  That  in- 
cludes also  the  fat  of  beasts  and  birds;  but  this  command 
is  contradicted  by  another  passage  (Deuter),  which  allows 
the  eating  of  the  fat  of  stags  and  roes  ;  but  both  again  are 
reconciled  by  a  third  passage,  which  forbids  the  fat  of  cattle 
and  flock.  (Leviticus.) 

These  thirteen  rules  are  concerning  the  Halacha,  and 
there  are  in  the  Talmud  two  more  rules  which  he  applied 
to  the  Hagada. 

«.  Being  quite  familiar  with  the  Greek  language,  he  oc- 
casionally used  the  Greek  in  explanation  of  the  Hebrew. 

p  TO  "in**  n«  iniN  >"nvxi  iniN  -no 


Nm  nil**'?  pip  ^V  JlEa-     (SynhedrinTe.) 

J.     All  repetitions  in  the  Pentateuch  are  intended  to  im- 
ply that,  which  otherwise,  might  be  overlooked.  H  527  "ID  TO 


—  16  — 

Judging  from  the  Talmud  (Synhedrin  54),  where  one 
dialectical  rule  of  the  system  of  Rabbi  Elie.*er  Ilaglili  is 
mentioned  in  IsmaePs  name,  lu-  must  havi-  known  many 
dialectical  rules  besides  tliose  mentioned  above. 

•IE1?  NyM  izbb  *a  MI  -im  bxyzz*  "21  IEN 

Rabbi  Ismael's  disciples,  called  "Tanah  dbe  Israael," 
used  a  method  of  transmutation  "HpH  ^,  according  to 

which  another  or  a  desired  meaning  is  given  to  words  when 
single  letters  are  transmuted,  omitted  or  differently  pro- 
nounced. 

The  Hebrew  language  is  like  a  kaleidoscope  ;  no  matter 
what  transmutation  the  letters  undergo,  new  words  are 
formed  and  they  are  very  often  expressive  of  great  and 
progressive  ideas. 

Rabbi  Akiba. 

mr^n  cmo  ppm&'  Nrpy  •'in  (Talmud  Yem- 

shalmi  5,  1),  Rabbi  Akiba,  the  greatest  rabbi  among  the 
teachers  of  the  Mishnah  epoch,  and  the  founder  of  a  new 
dialectical  school,  endeavored  to  derive  every  halacha 
directly  from  the  Pentateuch  ;  hence,  when  he  had  no  con- 
clusive arguments,  he  used  pleonasms,  picturesque  and 
rhetorical  expressions,  tenses,  conjunctive  letters,  foreign 
words,  the  perversion  of  passages  and  the  disconnection  of 
sentences. 

He  was  so  impassioned  of  such  irrational  methods  that 
he  frequently  waived  conclusive  arguments,  saying  :  t;  It  is 
not  necessary  to  resort  to  them."  "TH^  Ij"1^- 

Rabbi  Akiba  as  a  dialectician  was  theantipode  of  Rabbi 
Ismael.  (Yerushalmi  Nedarim  I.  1.) 


2i  nrn  -in  n^nr  mi-  rmnm  p  1122 


Methods  so  irrational,  so  illogical  and  so  militating  with 
common  sense  would  have  become  subversive  and  fatal  to 
Judaism  had  he  not  restricted  his  application  of  them  only 
within  the  limits  of  morality,  and  for  the  promotion  and 


—  17  — 

spread  of  his  ideas  relative  to  the  tendency  and  main- 
tenance of  Judaism. 

Akiba  lived  in  an  age  which  was  favorable  to  progress- 
ive ideas  and  innovations  only  when  they  had  the  sanction 
of  dialectical  argumentation,  and  any  dialectical  plausi- 
bility sufficed,  especially  when  it  was  only  of  hagadic  origin 

The  dialectical  rules  of  Rabbi  Akiba  were : 

1.  rD"1*")  Rebah.    The   Hebrew  particles,   p,^,   Q^,  p^, 

served  to  intimate  that  where  there  was  a  Halacha,  or  an 
idea  which  is  not  mentioned  especially,  it  could  be  derived 
dialectically. 

2.  0>TO  Meat.    The  Hebrew  particles,  j£,  p"),  -j^,  inti- 
mate an  exclusion  of  a  certain  idea  or  Halacha. 

These  two  dialectical  rules  had  also  been  applied  by 
Nahum  ben  Gamsu,  a  contemporary  of  Rabbi  Jochanan 
ben  Saccai,  but  Akiba  applied  them  in  a  more  compound 
figure : 

An  addition,  exclusion  and  addition— J"Q" 

An  addition  after  an  addition — r 

An  exclusion  after  an  exclusion — 2 

3.  D^Cm  DEKP   ilEO   "lEini       p  (<*&*  23).    The 
syllogism  de  minore  ad  majorem,  when  the  minore  premise 
is  a  mere  rabbinical  decision  or  statement.     This  principle 
had  already  been  applied  by  Akiba's  teacher,  the  Rabbi 
Elieser  ben  Hyrcanos. 

4.  Nirpy  ^-n  bbz  D  nn-6  nni  IK  IDIN  NT  pj;  •'n-i 

ErHp  11-    Tlie  conjunctives  ^  "  the  ore  "  and  the  1  "  the 

and."  Example  (Leviticus  xvii.  3):  "Any  Israelite  who 
kills  an  ox  or  a  sheep  or  a  goat  outside,  and  does  not  bring 
it  into  the  tabernacle,  it  shall  be  imputed  to  him  as  a  blood 
guiltiness."  The  "  or "  means  to  say  that  also  he  who 
sprinkles  it  is  guilty. 

This  rule  had  also  been  taught  by  Secharja  ben  Hakazan, 
a  contemporary  of  Rabbi  Jochanan  ben  Saccai. 

5.  The  word  "1^5^  is    applied  to  a  dialectical  purpose. 


—  18  — 
Sifri  Nasa  II.,  Sota,  p.  5.    ^D*6  PI3  1CWP  DlD  ^ 


<J.  The  connection    of   the    portions    has    a    dialectical 
meaning.  SilVi  Balak  131.  nrmr6  rCl£DH  WIC  ^D. 

7.  The  perversion,  disconnection  and  the  dislocation  of 
passages.      (Menach  58,    Gitin   39)    -pi    SOpE!"!    DID 

ineni 

8.  A  "  point  d'appui"  in  the  Bible,  or,  in  the  usages  of 
the  people,  NC^i?D  NHDCDN-    If  a  Biblical  passage  is  a 
"  point  d'appui,"  then  it  is  followed  by  the  word  ")CfcO£f 
(Berachoth  Mishnah   i.  5).    The  rabbis  liked  this   method 

very  much,    n^  HT^n  n^TID  ^HvSI  KT1^. 

9.  Foreign  words,  Q^n^  ''DDDD  ^DD  ^EIN  ^^p^  ^1- 
Synhed.  104.     niD  COIDD^  D^P^  ^p^D^D  HD-     The 
method  of  using  foreign  words  in  defining  Hebrew  ones  had 
been  adopted  earlier  by  Rabbi  Ismael. 

10.  Puns'  ^  £flj  nc6-    Aboda  Sara, 


The  formation  of  a  new  word  by  a 

composition  of  letters  taken  from  two  or  several  words  be- 
longing together.    (Sota  17.)    ,-p  £?N  D^N  £^N- 

12.  D^^Q.     Metaphors. 

Example:  (Deuteronomy  xlix.  13):  "And  the  woman  in 
the  captivity  shall  weep  for  her  father."  Rabbi  Akiba 
takes  the  word  father  for  a  picturesque  expression,  mean- 
ing her  idol. 

13.  The  inquiry  as  to  the  reasons  of  the  biblical  laws  and 
a  decision  accordingly.    n*Yin   !"n3N  H2  "^DD-    (Rosh 
Hashana  16.) 

Akiba's  disciple,  Rabbi  Simon  ben  Jochai  unreservedly 
sanctioned  this  principle.  fcp)»£  ^^Tn  *")PN  I^PC^  ^D^ 


14.  The  grammatical  construction.  Example:  (Syn- 
hedrin  54)  :  Akiba  turned  the  active  form,  33127,  into  the 
passive,  3D£^i  and  derived  from  it  a  Halacha. 

There  may  be  more  of  Akiba's  dialectical  rules  scattered 
in  the  rabbinical  writings. 


19 

The  influence  of  Rabbi  Akiba  upon  Judaism  can  not  be 
over  estimated,  as  the  opinions  of  his  contemporaries  amply 
testify. 

Rabbi  Tar f on,  altho  ugh  frequently  disgusted  with  Aki- 
ba's  sophistry  (Sit'ri  Behaaloscho  x.  8),  used  to  say  (Kidu 

66,  D^nj  -2ni2  1?*O  "pJ7!D  CmCH  ^D):  "He  who 
abandons  Akiba  abandons  life." 

Rabbi  Tarfon  compared  the  dialectician  Akiba  to  the  ram, 
of  whom  it  reads  in  Daniel  viii.  3 :  tv  There  was  a  ram  stand- 
ing *  *  *  I  saw  the  ram  butting  westward,  northward, 
and  southward,  so  that  all  the  beasts  could  not  stand  before 
him  and  no  one  was  there  to  deliver  out  of  his  hand  :  and 
he  did  according  to  his  will  *  *  *." 

Tarfon  was  once  present  when  Rabbi  Joseh  Haglili  re- 
futed even  the  Rabbi  Akiba,  and  he  compared  Joseh  Hag- 
lili to  a  he-goat,  of  whom  Daniel  speaks :  "  The  he-goat 
came  close  unto  the  ram  and  he  became  bitterly  enraged 
against  him,  and  he  struck  the  ram,  and  broke  his  two 
horns."  (Sifri  Chuccath.) 

Simon  ben  Asai  gave  to  Akiba  the  name  Kerach,  "  a 
ram,"  and  admitted  that,  among  all  the  sages  of  Israel, 
Akiba  was  his  superior. 

Rabbi  Dosa  ben  Hyrcan  asked  him  when  they  met  the 
first  time,  "Art  thou  the  widely-renowned  Akiba?" 

Rabbi  Nathan,  the  Babylonian,  called  him  the  systematic, 
Czar  Bolum,  because  he  arranged  the  confused  Halachas, 
and  thus  laid  the  foundation  to  the  Mishnah,  which  was 
continued  by  Rabbi  Meir  and  finished  by  Rabbi  Jehuda, 
the  Patriarch. 

Rabh,  the  Half-Amora,  glorifies  him  by  the  legend: 
"  When  Moses  saw  God  putting  dots  and  marks  upon  the 
letters  of  the  Thorah  he  asked  to  what  purpose  was  it  done, 
and  he  was  answered:  When  the  Law  will  not  suffice  for 
all  the  wants  of  practical  life,  a  man,  by  name  Akiba,  will 
arise,  and,  by  interpreting  these  dots  and  marks,  will  enlar^v 
and  expand  the  Law.''  (Menachoth  xxix.) 

Akiba  died  a  martyr  after  the  wars  of  Bar  Cocliba,  when 
Hadrian  issued  oppressive  edicts  against  the  Jews.  The 


—  20  — 

blood  of  his  martyrdom  caused  the  seed  of  his  teachings  to 
^ro\v  and  bring  forth  a  rich  harvest  of  religious  and  moral 
thoughts. 

fiabbi  Eliescr,  the  Galileite. 

Rabbi  Elieser,  the  son  of  Rabbi  Joseh,  the  Galilean, 
lived  in  Usha.  When  Rabbi  Simon  ben  Jochai,  after  the 
death  of  Severus,  had  been  commissioned  by  the  Israelites 
to  go  to  Rome  to  effect  a  repeal  of  the  cruel  edicts  issued 
and  enforced  upon  them  by  the  emperors  Hadrian  and 
Verus,  Rabbi  Elieser  Haglili  accompanied  him  there.  The 
emperor,  Mark  Aurel,  complied  with  their  wishes.  (Meila 
xvii.)  While  in  Rome  they  beheld  the  "holy  vessels  which 
Titus  transported  to  Rome  after  the  destruction  of  the 
temple."  (Yoma59.) 

The  drooping  spirit  of  the  Israelites,  who  were  brought 
to  the  verge  of  despondency  and  misery  by  the  wars  of 
Bar  Cochba,  and  the  subsequent  cruel  Hadrianic  persecu- 
tions, he  endeavored  to  revive  and  encourage  by  the 

teachings  of  the  immortality  of  the  Jewish  nation.     7^  7^ 

IT  niDiND  yin— msn  IK^D— • 

i         i 

(Vajikra  Rabba  xx.) 

From  the  Conviction  that  the  study  of  the  Law  was  the 
only  means  of  preserving  his  nation,  sprang  his  devotion 
to  the  study  of  the  Dialectics. 

His  thirty-two  dilectical  rules  are : 

1.  *>l:vv    See  Akiba's  Dialectical  Rule  1. 


3.  ^ 

4-  B1JPD  nnX  WD-    MM.  2. 

5-  ^"llDD    ^iC'ini   7p-      A    syllogism    de   minore  ad 
majorem,  which  is  drawn  by  the  Bible  itself. 

"IDlHl  /-  A  syllogism  de  minore  ad  majorem, 


which  the  reader  of  the  Bible  may  draw  from  premise  or 
by  comparison. 


—  21  — 
MTU    See  HillePs  Dialectical  Rules  II. 


9-  rn^p  -p"!.    The  ellipsis. 

Example:  (Psalm  xciv.):  "He  that  planteth  the  ear, 
shall  he  not  hear?  He  that  formeth  the  eye,  shall  he  not 
see  ?  He  that  admonisheth  nations,  shall  he  not  correct  ?  Is 
it  not  he  that  teacheth  man  knowledge  ?  The  last  sentence 
ought  to  read,  "That  teacheth  man,  shall  he  not  know." 

10.  *0^£r  NlTO  ""QT  Alterations  of  the  biblical  text. 
The  ancient  rabbis  do  not  deny  that  the  biblical  text  under- 
went alterations. 

The  Tosefta  (Megilla  III.)  speaks  of  an  alteration  of  all 

obscene   words  in  the  Bible  : 


The  MidrashTanchuma,  SidraBeschallach,  mentions  quite 
a  number  of  altered  passages. 

Rabbi  Simon  teaches  that  the  chapter  treating  of  Abra- 
ham's intercession  with  God  for  Sodom  is  an  alteration. 


IDK  "n  ^z  HEW  r\rry  DH'IDW  HDTJD 

(Genesis  Rabba  49.)  ^ln 

The  intersection. 


Example  :  The  eighth  verse  of  Psalm  cxlviii.  belongs  to- 
the  fourth. 

12-  ID1?  WftMVID.%  N22?  121-  A  subject  is  to 
depict  another  subject,  and  by  that  means  we  learn  some- 
thing the  first  time  about  its  existence. 

Example:  (Sabarjah  xii.  11):  "On  that  day  great  will 
be  the  lamentation  of  Jerusalem,  like  the  lamentation  of 
Hadad  Rimon  in  the  valley  of  Megido."  Hadad  Rimon  is 
explanatory,  and,  at  the  same  time,  we  hear  of  it  for  the 
first  time. 

13.  p^&n  78  ions  Kim  PTOD  rnrw  Wpp 

A  general  rule  with  a  fact  seemingly  disconnected  with 
that  general  rule  is  still  explanatory. 


—  22  — 

Example:  (Deuteronomy  xvii.  15)  :  "Thou  mayest  seta 
king  over  thee,"  is  the  rule,  and  the  subsequent  prescrip- 
tions, though  seemingly  disconnected  from  the  rule,  are 
explanatory  of  what  a  Jewish  king  is  required  to  be. 

nb  i^n  ppn  r6n:tf  ^ru  -m 

""p""Q-     An    illustration    or    metaphor, 

though  in  itself  inadequate  to  the  subject  it  depicts,  is  still 
calculated  to  make  a  wonderful  impression. 

Example:  (Amos  38):  "The  lion  hath  roared,  who  will 
not  fear?  The  Eternal  hath  spoken,  who  will  not  prophesy  ?" 

m  nx  HT  D^nrsn  trans  ^w 

Wb&r\  Slnm-      (See   Rabbi  Ismael's 
Dialectical  Rule  13.  ) 

A    word    which    is 


unmistakable  and  admits  of  no  other  definition. 
Example  :  prayer,  roaring,  sighing. 


The  inductive  method. 

is.   rs  :nui  inspoa  -ISN:::'  *i2n-  A  part  is  men- 

tioned, but  the  whole  category  is  intended. 

Example:  (Exod.  xxii.  22)  :  "A  widow  and  an  orphan  you 
shall  not  oppress,"  this  doos  not  mean  to  imply  that  other 
unfortunate  people  may  be  oppressed. 

19.  nan1?  pn  Nim  nis  *DW^  -me-  A  predi- 

cate is  mentioned  in  connection  with  a  subject,  but  refers 
also  to  other  subjects. 

Example:  (Psalm  xcvii.)  :  "  Light  is  sown  for  the  right- 
eous and  joy  for  the  upright  heart."  Both  of  these  predi- 
cates refer  to  either  of  these  subjects. 

20.  p?;  Kin  bix  b  ]^y  irxi  ma  "IDW^  ^21 

n^an/-  A  predicate  which  only  nominally  refers  to  the 
subject,  but  in  reality  it  alludes  to  a  subject  which  is 
connected  with  the  first  one. 


Example  :  (Deuteronomy  xxxiii.) :  ''And  this  is  the  bless- 
ing of  Juda,  and  he  said,  hear,  Lord,  the  voice  of  Juda." 
The  first  part  of  this  blessing  refers  to  Juda's  neighbors, 
Simon  and  Reuben,  who  were  united  with  him. 

21.  ro  -6  jnu  nn«i  nnD  TIE^  qwp  im 

Di"!Tl£OG^  nCTi-  A  subject  compared  with  two  things 
has  to  be  taken  in  the  light  of  all  their  advantages  and 
merits. 

Example  :  "The  righteous  blossom  like  a  palm-tree,  like 
a  cedar  on  the  Lebanon."  This  illustration  means  that  the 
righteous  bear  fruit  like  a  palm-tree  and  give  umbrage  like 
a  cedar. 

22.  Vby  JTOID  VPSriEf  *Q"1-    A  subject  is  defined  by 
another  subject. 

Example:  (Psalm  xxxviii.  2) :  "  O  Lord,  correct  me  not 
in  thy  wrath  and  chastise  me  in  thy  fury."  The  "  not "  of 
the  first  passage  refers  also  to  the  second  one. 

23.  ITOn  by  rPDlQ  NVTtf  -Q"!.    A  subject  which  is 
explanatory  of  another  one. 

Example:  (Proverbs  xiii.  1) :  "A wise  son  the  correction 
of  his  father,  but  a  scorner  hearkeneth  not  to  rebuke."  The 
word  hearkeneth  refers  to  the  first  part,  and  it  ought  to 
read  :  A  wise  son  hearkeneth  to  the  correction. 

24.  is^y  by  ivbb  bbzn  p  Km  fen  rmw  -on- 

A  thing  that  was  implied  in  the  general  rule  and  was  speci- 
fied, the  specification  may  mean  emphasy. 

Example :  (Joshua  ii.  1) :  "  Go  ye,  view  the  land  and 
Jericho." 

25.  rvDn  by  ^b  bbsr\  JD  Kin  bbn  rm&  nm- 

A  thing  that  was  implied  in  the  general  rule  and  is  specified, 
the  specification  may  be  explanatory. 

Example  :  (Psalm  cxlv.  18) :  "  The  Lord  is  nigh  unto  all 
those  who  call  on  him,  to  all  who  call  on  him  in  truth. 

26.  7£?ft.    The  metaphors.    Rabbi  Isrnael  explained 


—  24  — 

words  metaphorically  (Exod.  xxi.)  :  The  crutch  meaning 
health;  sunshine*  (Exod.  xxi.)  meaning  peaceably,  and  the 
sheet  (Deut.  xxii.)  meaning  the  case,  shall  be  made  clear. 

27.  pvb  by  teu  yvb-  The  Puns-   ' 

Example:  Numbers  xxi.  9  ;  Isaiah  v.  7. 

28.  "13.3ft.    The  Parallelism. 

Example:  (Genesis  xlix.  11):  uHe  washes  his  garments 
in  wine,  and  in  the  blood  of  grapes  his  clothes."  The  word 
Suso,  raiment,  does  not  occur  again  in  the  Bible,  and  is 
defined  "raiment"  only  on  account  of  another  synonymous 
word. 

29.  fcTHJOE"1.}  or  ^20£""1>     Geometry,  or  the  numerical 
value  of  the  words;  grammateis,  the  permutation  of  gut- 
terals  and  dentals,  or  the  alphabets  when  taken  backward- 

CD  n&  or  wnen  commenced  with  the  middle  letter  CD  7^. 

30.  ?l"HOl3-  The  short-hand  writing.  The  notaries  used 


to  put  down  one  letter  for  a  word,  and  this  expediency  of 
the  writers  was  later  applied  as  a  rule  in  the  interpretation 
of  the  Bible. 

31.  nVfcnDS  iniNE  NTO'  DIplD-     The  arrangement 
of  the  events  in  the  Bible  is  not  of  a  historical  succession. 

32.  jn    1TINS    WHIP    D"llE-      The    peculiarity 


of  the  Hebrew  syntax  is  according  to  which  parts  of  a 
sentence  which  ought  to  be  subsequent  take  prece- 
dence. 

Example  :  (1  Samuel  iii.  3)  :  "And  the  lamp  of  God  had 
not  yet  gone  out  while  Samuel  was  lying  down  in  the 
temple  of  the  Lord  where  the  ark  was,"  ought  to  read  :  And 
the  lamp  of  God  had  not  yet  gone  out  in  the  temple  of  the 
Lord  where  the  ark  of  God  was.  While  Samuel  was  lying 
down,  the  Lord  called  Samuel. 

The  thirty-two  dialectical  rules  of  Rabbi  Elieser  are  scat- 
tered in  the  Talmud,  but  were  collected  by  Samuel  Hana- 
gid,  and  are  printed  as  an  introduction  to  the  Talmud 
Berachoth. 


—  25  — 

The  text  of  these  rules  varies  so  considerably  in  the  differ 
ent  dialectical  books  that  critical  studies  were  adopted  to 
restore  the  original  texts  by  Rabbi  Eliah  Wilna  (Zolkiew 
5563),  and  by  Jacob   Reifman   (Mewakesh  Dawar,  Wien, 
5626). 

The  College  of  Usha. 

The  Hadrianic  persecutions  pressed  hard  upon  the  Jew- 
ish nation,  and  especially  upon  the  rabbis,  to  whom,  under 
the  penalty  of  death,  the  study  and  the  teaching  of  the 
Law  were  prohibited ;  but  in  their  devotion  and  piety  they 
defied  their  Roman  persecutors,  and  treated  with  indiffer- 
ence the  threats  of  exile  and  death. 

Under  such  circumstances,  the  rabbis,  anxious  for  the 
progress  of  Judaism,  took  measures  to  secure  an  asylum 
for  the  Law  somewhere  out  of  the  reach  of  the  Roman  per- 
secutors. Usha  seemed  to  them  the  right  place,  and  thither 
emigrated  the  Rabbis  Juda  ben  Hay,  Nehemiah,  Mair, 
Joseph,  Simon  b.  Jochai,  Elieser  Haglili,  Elieser  ben 
Jacob.  (Mid  Shir  Hashirim  Samchuni). 

The  most  eminent  among  the  rabbis,  called  Holcheh 
Usha,  was  Rabbi  Mair ;  he  was  distinguished  for  his  knowl- 
edge, brilliant  intellect  and  skill  in  dialectical  contests. 

iy2p  xb  no  ^BDI  imra  TND  ^:n  bw  nro 
injn  P]ID  by  mo^  won  *h^  xbw  irror 
ft  n*O£i  TTO  KSCO  bw  NED  TTO  by  -IDK 

(Erubin  13.)     .Q^S 

Conscious  of  his  superiority  as  its  head,  he  endeavored 
to  elevate  the  College  of  Usha  to  a  very  Synhedrin.  But 
this  endeavor  clashed  with  the  hereditary  claims  of  Rabbi 
Simon  ben  Gamliel,  the  head  of  the  Synhedrin  of  Yabneh. 
Alarmed  at  the  seriousness  of  the  commotion,  Simon 
removed  to  Usha  and  there  personally  assumed  the  presi- 
dency of  the  Synhedrin.  Simon  thwarted  Rabbi  Mair's 
plan,  but,  at  the  same  time,  he  aroused  a  secret  jealousy, 
which  threatened  ere  long  to  break  forth  and  prove  fatal  to 
either  or  both  of  them.  The  moment  for  the  eruption  came. 
The  more  Simon  felt  that  he  was  gradually  being  eclipsed 


—  26  — 

by  Mair's  dialectical  acuteness  the  greater  were  his 
endeavors  to  thrust  him,  by  insisting  upon  hereditary  privi- 
leges and  etiquette,  into  the  background. 

It  was  the  custom,  upon  the  entrance  of  the  three  heads 
of  the  Synhedrin,  for  all  the  collegiates  to  arise  as  a  mark 
of  reverence.  Once  on  the  occasion  of  the  absence  of  the 
two  assessors,  Rabbi  Mair  and  Rabbi  Nathan,  Simon  enacted 
that  all  collegiates  should  arise  in  future  only  when  he, 
the  Nasi,  entered,  but  when  the  President,  Rabbi  NathanT 
entered  that  only  two  rows  should  arise,  and  only  one  row 
when  the  referendary,  Rabbi  Mair,  entered. 

Such  a  proceeding  embittered  and  insulted  the  two 
assessors,  and  cast  the  seeds  of  resentment  in  their  minds. 
They  conspired  against  Simon,  and  determined  to  surprise 
him  unexpectedly  in  the  college  with  questions  which  they 
supposed  he  could  not  answer,  and  thus  put  him  to  the 
blush  and  cause  him  to  be  deposed  as  not  fully  qualified  for 
his  high  office.  But  their  plan  failed. 

Rabbi  Jacob  ben  Cursari  betrayed  the  conspirators, 
Rabbi  Simon  ben  Gamliel  prepared  himself  to  meet  his 
enemies,  and,  to  their  disappointment,  he  answered  all 
their  questions  to  the  fullest  satisfaction,  and  when  through 
answering  he  reproached  them  with  their  guilty  and  mali- 
cious designs.  He  took  still  a  bolder  step ;  he  excluded 
them  from  the  college.  This  exclusion  from  the  college  of 
men  who  were  his  superiors  in  knowledge,  and  who  were 
of  the  founders  of  that  institution,  might  have  proved  i'at  al 
to  him  had  not  Eabbi  Joseph  ben  Chalafta  interceded,  and? 
by  his  weighty  influence,  reconciled  them  to  the  terras,  that 
they  were  to  be  re-admitted  into  the  college,  and  that  their 
teachings  should  be  recorded  as  anonymous  Q^C^  D"Hn^ 
Rabbi  Mair,  and  Q'HEIN  £>">  Rabbi  Nathan. 

Rabbi  Nathan  was  again  a  regular  attendant  at  the  col- 
lege, but  Rabbi  Mair  regretted  the  step  of  reconciliation 
that  had  been  taken,  and,  rather  than  humiliate  himself 
by  teaching  anonymously,  he  went  to  Sardis  in  Asia,  and 

established  there  a  college  (Synhed.  24)    ^"l  n'^l^ 

TO  m  prnBi  onn  -ipw  "6*0  Brrran  rvzn 


—  27  — 

Rabbi  Mair's  talents  and  merits  succumbed  to  the  weight 
of  Simon's  hereditary  claims  and  privileges. 

Having  thus  experienced  the  wrong  and  the  power  of 
hereditary  preferences,  he  contested  them  by  his  teaching: 
"A  Gentile  who  has  been  devoted  to  the  study  of  law  equals 
in  dignity  a  high  priest.  (Aboda  Sara.) 

bm  ]rra  wn  nn  nmro  pow  ^  noi«  TND  an 

Like  the  Gamalielites,  Rabbi  Simon  also  held  that  plain 
modes  of  study  were  preferable  to  dialectical  methods. 

TD  nDN  nn  pirn  bwbzti  p  JWDP  "n  m  ^rte 
(Horiyoth.)  .FVHy  D*Hn  npij?  nDN  nni  ppny 

The  assessor,  Rabbi  Nathan,  was  a  Babylonian,  and  as  such 
he  ranked  next  to  Hillel,  who,  though  a  native  of  Babylog, 
occupied  a  high  office  in  Palestine. 

Varying  from  his  contemporaries,  who  believed  that  God 
judges  the  world  on  the  New  Year's  Day,  he  taught  that 
God  always  sat  in  judgment  over  the  world.  (Rosh 
Hashanah  16.) 

Rabbi  Joseph  ben  Chalafla  was  a  man  of  a  very  peace- 
able character.  The  party  strife  in  Israel  he  imputed  to 
the  incompetency  of  the  rabbis. 

b?  y^w  xbw  bb^n  nai  **xw  na 
i.  ss.)  rrnin  TIEO  nmnn  nty^ 

With  a  remarkable  frankness,  he  used  to  say :  "  I  am  no 
Aharonite,  but  if  my  colleagues  should  desire  me  to  offi- 
ciate as  an  Aharonite,  I  should  not  hesitate  to  comply  with 
their  wishes."  (Sabbath  118.) 

He  was  the  first  who  interpreted  dialectically  the  punc- 
tuation of  the  Hebrew  words,  _£Pesachiin  9  ;  Perek  4. ) 
Next  to  him.  is  known  Rabbi  Simon  ben  Elieser,  who  made 
it  a.rule  (Midrash  Rabba  Genesis  78)  that  regard  should  be 
taken  of  punctuation.  » 

p  D'pD  bs  -tiybto  p  |TO^  an  nDK 
^nrn  ^nn  nn«  rmp:n  by  nnn  nnnn 
-nmp:n  i^mn  nnrn  by 


\ 


—  28  — 

In  behalf  of  the  re  admittance  of  Rabbi  Mair  and  Rabbi 
Nathan,  he  interfered,  under  the  plea,  "jj^"t  VIH^^  miH 
D"1^-—  C>  "  *ne  ^aw  is  abroad  and  we  are  inside." 

The  College  of  Tiberias. 

The  son  of  Rabbi  Simon  ben  Gamliel,  Rabbi  Jehuda,  the 
patriarch,  started  a  college  in  Beth  Schearim.  Later  he 
moved  to  Sophoris,  and  finally  to  Tiberias.  Like  his  father 
and  his  grandsires,  he  was  opposed  to  all  dialectical  strata- 
gems, fearing  they  might  undermine  his  hereditary  claims 
and  his  authority. 

The  janitors  of  the  college  were  strictly  ordered  not  to 
admit  any  one  of  Rabbi  Mair's  disciples,  whom  he  considered 
mere  sophists. 

mrp  "m  vrb  -,CN  TKD  ""i  bw  jr 

"ODD  |*Ob>    T*0  "I  ''TlDbn   IDJp"1   b* 

•ircS-a  ^nDpt>  *6N  p&a  jn  ivbb  xbi  jn 

It  was,  again,  Rabbi  Jose  ben  OhalaHa  who  interfered, 
pleading:  u  Rabbi  Mair  is  dead,  Rabbi  Jehuda  is  angry, 
Joseh  is  silent,  what  shall  become  of  the  Lawf 

His  ascendancy  over  Rabbi  Jehuda  was  great  p}1^  *,,")  "12- 
]pin  (Sabbat  51),  and  the  disciples  of  Rabbi  Mair  were 

admitted.  Rabbi  Jehuda  was  an  admirer  of  Rabbi  Mair 
and  owned  that  all  he  knew  about  dialectical  methods  he 
had  learned  from  Rabbi  Mair.  (Erubin  13.) 

In  the  interpretation  of  the  Law,  Rabbi  Jehuda  was 
guided  by  the  principle,  "  Neither  too  literally  nor  too  free." 

m  m  irvmo  p-oe  cnrcn  hi  ^EIN  rm,T  ^i 
p)i3^i  rj-^niD  m  nn  vby  ^oiam  \xnn 

(Kiddnshin  49.) 

A  great  dialectician  whom  he  disliked  was  the  Sym- 
machos,  most  likely  the  translator  of  the  Bible  into  Greek. 


(Erubin  13.)  fop  DDD1D1  D^^CS  Dv^^m  "^^D  'C'" 


—  29  — 

Another  dialectician,  Polimo,  asked  him  whether  a  mis- 
creant with  two  heads  must  lay  Tefillin?  Rabbi  Jehuda 
frowned  at  him. 

Dm  nr*o  D^'&n  "n  b  EPS?  °>n  " 

(Menach  36.) 

Rabbi  Jehuda  kept  his  disciples  in  a  very  strict  disci- 
pline, QiTD^HS  rHD  pill-  He  invested  himself  with 
all  the  authority  of  a  rabbi,  Synhedrin  and  Patriarch,  and 
he  was  favored  in  his  autocracy  by  his  genealogy,  his 
riches  and  by  his  great  ascendancy  over  the  Roman  Em- 
peror, Mark  Aurelius  Antonius.  In  spite  of  his  autocracy, 
Rabbi  Jehuda  was  so  liked  by  the  people  that  they  looked 
upon  him  as  an  ideal  of  a  Messiah.  (Synhed.  98.) 


II. 

The  Dialectics    of  the  Amoraim. — The  Rabbis    of  the 
Talmud.     (250-450.) 

The  Dialectics  in   the  Babylonian  Colleges. 

The  Israelites  who  were  exiled  to  Babylon  by  Nebuchad- 
nezzar found  there  a  good  home.  The  equal  rights  which 
they  enjoyed  there  in  common  with  the  other  citizens,  the 
fertility  of  the  ground  they  settled  upon,  and  the  common 
interests,  advantages  and  sufferings  which  they  experienced 
in  political  respects,  endeared  unto  them  their  new  abode 
to  such  a  degree  that  when,  a  few  decades  later,  an  emigra- 
tion to  Palestine  took  place,  only  the  poorer  class  re- 
turned, while  the  wealthier  class  preferred  Babylon  to 
Palestine. 

Babylon  was  the  new  country  "  flowing  with  milk  and 
honey,"  and  there  they  prospered,  and,  according  to  the 
words  of  Jeremiah,  there  they  built  their  "  own  houses  ;" 
but,  in  the  midst  of  their  prosperity  they  forgot,  as  S.  L. 
Rappaport-  (Shaaloth  Hagonim,  Cassel)  says,  to  build  the 
houses  of  God,  the  colleges. 

While  the  Jews  of  Palestine,  through  all  the  horrors  of  war 
and  persecution,  did  not  abstain  from  establishing  colleges^ 
writing  books  and  studying  the  Law,  the  Jews  in  Babylon 
gave  hardly  any  evidence  of  a  higher  spiritual  life  during 
all  those  centuries  from  the  exile  till  the  Hadrianic  perse- 
cutions, when  Palestine  Jews  made  Nehardea  their  resort. 

While  the  leaders  of  the  Babylonian  Jews  were  invested 
by  the  government  with  the  authority  of  vassal  kings,  the 
leaders  of  the  Palestine  Jews  were  persecuted,  and,  even  in 
the  palmy  days  of  Rabbi  Jehuda,  the  patriarch,  they  were 
only  tolerated  by  the  Roman  emperors,  and  yet  the  Baby- 


—  31  — 

lonians  subjected  themselves  in  all  religious  affairs  to  the 
Palestine  rabbis,  till  the  araora  of  the  second  generation, 
Rabbi  Jehuda  ben  Jecheskeel,  boldly  declared,  tfc  Babylon 
equals  Palestine  in  every  respect." 

After  the  death  of  Rabbi  Jehuda,  the  patriarch,  many  of 
his- great  disciples  emigrated  to  Babylon,  where  they  started 
colleges  and  sowed  the  seeds  of  the  Law  broadcast  into  the 
juvenile  minds  of  the  Babylonian  Jews,  and  which  pro- 
duced so  rich  a  harvest  that  ere  long  Palestine  was  sur- 
passed and  the  Babylonians  could  boast, "  One  Dialectician, 
of  ours  is  a  match  for  two  of  theirs." 

There  is  a  great  difference  between  the  Dialectics  of  the 
rabbis  of  the  Mishnah  and  the  Tanaim.  and  the  rabbis  of 
the  Talmudical  epoch,  the  Amoraim. 

The  Tanaim  laid  down  certain  rules,  maxims  and  prin- 
ciples, according  to  which  they  interpreted,  discussed,  ex- 
plained and  developed  the  Law. 

The  Amoraim  acknowledged  the  dialectical  rules  of  the 
Tanaim  as  authoritative,  but  they  themselves  did  not  lay 
down  new  ones.  They  grasped  a  subject  at  issue  in  the 
same  manner  as  do  very  dexterous  and  sagacious  disputants 
who  regard  traditional  authority,  expediency,  psychological 
facts,  natural  circumstances  and  capabilities 

Mar  Samuel  Yarchini. 

Mar  Samuel  Yarchini,  the  son  of  Rabbi  Abba  and  a 
disciple  of  Rabbi  Jehuda,  the  patriarch,  was  the  head  of 
the  college  of  Nehardea,  and  was  the  first  Dialectician 
among  the  Amoraim. 

The  Jews  in  Babylon  had  a  jurisdiction  of  their  own, 
which  was  administered  by  their  rabbis  according  to  their 
traditional  laws;  but  Mar  Samuel,  convinced  of  the  insuffi- 
ciency and  superfluousness  of  mere  traditional  laws,  entered 
into  the  spirit  of  Jewish  jurisprudence,  and,  by  his  juridi- 
cal principles  and  decisions,  he  raised  Jewish  jurisprudence 
to  a  higher  standard  of  development. 

Such  a  work  could  not  be  accomplished  without  great 
skill  and  dexterity  in  Dialectics.  Mar  Samuel's  Dialectics 
are  plain,  logical,  natural  and  conclusive,  and  the  Jewish 


—  32- 

jurisprudence,  emanating  from  broad  principles  of  justice 
and  equality,  and  being  only  rarely  stunted  in  its  develop- 
ment by  authoritative  decisions  of  the  Bible,  afforded  full 
scope  for  his  dialectical  acuteness. 

His  advice  was  sought  by  the  Persian  King,  Sabur  I. 
After  the  death  of  his  colleague,  Rabh,  the  head  of  the 
college  in  Sura,  Rabh's  disciples  flocked  to  his  college  in 
Nehardea. 

Mar  Samuel  was  a  universal  genius.  He  was  a  distin- 
guished physician,  and  in  astronomy  he  was  so  learned  that 
he  made  a  calendar  for  sixty  years  in  advance  and  sent  it 
to  the  chief  rabbi  of  Palestine,  Rabbi  Jochanan,  to  show 
him  that  the  festival  calculation  sent  to  them  from  Pales- 
tine was  of  little  value. 

The  College  of  Pumbaditlia. 

Rabbi  Jehuda  ben  Yecheskeel,  Samuel's  disciple,  opened 
a  college  in  Pumbaditha,  which  for  centuries  was  the  most 
important  alma  mater  among  the  Jewish  colleges  in 
Babylon. 

Rabbi  Jehuda,  nick-named  ben  Schweskel,  was  called  on 
account  of  his  pre-eminent  dialectical  acuteness  fcOJ"^, 
u  the  acute."' 

A  specimen  of  his  sophistry  is  :  "Iron  is  solid,  but  it  suc- 
cumbs to  fire,  and  the  fire  again  succumbs  to  the  water, 
and  stronger  than  water  are  the  clouds  which  bear  the 
water,  and  stronger  than  the  clouds  is  the  wind  which  dis- 
pels them ;  stronger  than  the  wind  is  man,  he  resists  the 
wind ;  mightier  than  man  is  the  trouble  which  breaks  him 
down ;  mightier  than  trouble  is  the  vine  ;  mightier  than  the 
vine  is  the  sleep,  and  stronger  than  the  sleep  is  the  death, 
and  mightier  than  the  death  is  the  charity  which  saves  man 
from  starvation."  (Baba  Batra  10.) 

The  golden  ages  of  the  Dialectics  were,  according  to  him, 
at  the  days  of  Othniel  ben  Knas,  who,  by  Dialectics,  rescued 
all  the  halachas  which  had  been  neglected  during  the  period 
of  mourning  after  the  death  of  Moses.  (Temura  16.) 

p  nD?n  D^K  "j-  And 


—  33  — 

another  golden  age  of  the  Dialectics  was  that  in  which  the 
Prophet  Isaiah  33,  according  to  a  Talmudical  interpretation 
in  Chagiga  15,  says  they  built  a  labyrinth  of  halachas  in 


the  air.   Y»np  rmraff  piorn  jp  \ 

HIND 


To  the  jurisprudence  he  devoted  almost  all  his  time, 
and  thereby  neglecting  all  other  branches  of  casuistry  to 
such  a  degree  that  when  once  asked  to  give  a  decision  in  a 
ceremonial  case  he  was  at  a  loss  what  to  say,  and,  as  a  sub- 
terfuge, he  referred  such  questions  as  this  to  the  category 

of  futile  sophistry.     (Berachoth  20.)     ^tflD^I  TT1  Win 

•pin  Np 

Rabh  Yehuda  placed  Babylonia  and  Palestine  on  an 
equal  footing  in  every  respect,  and  considered  as  prejudi- 
cial any  predilection  or  preferment  for  Palestine. 

When  Rabbi  Zeira,  an  enthusiast  of  Palestine,  returned 
to  Palestine,  he  escaped  in  secret  lest  Jehuda  would  not 
have  allowed  it.  (Sabbath  41.)  He  was  careful  in  the 

selection  of  disciples.    (Ohulin  133.)    TD^D^  rUIOT  ^D 

DJ!TJQ    /DU    pjn    l.TN!^    an(i    was    verv  scrupulous 

about  the  purity  of  genealogy,  but  his  veracity  in  tell- 
ing the  traditions  in  the  name  of  the  author  was  doubted 

very  much  by  his  own  brother   (Chulin  44)    IfY^n   K/ 

on  .TWO  ^nK  rmrv  ^m  -bbs  ^nh 

Rabh  Juda's  successor  was  Rabh  Hasda,  who  was  so  rich 
that,  before  he  was  called  to  Pumbaditha,  he  maintained  his 
private  college  in  Sura  out  of  his  own  means. 

He  was  a  great  Dialectician,  and  whenever  he  met  with 
the  great  Halachist,  the  blind  Rabh  Scheschet,  they  both 
trembled.  Rabh  Scheschet  trembled  because  of  Rabh 
Hasda's  dialectical  acuteness,  and  Rabh  Hasda  trembled 
because  of  R.  Scheschet's  great  store  of  traditional  knowl- 


—  34  — 
edge.    (Erubin  86.)    "HrO  3tt2  T  HEW  211  KIDf!  31 

rccr  311  NrruncD  rprvc^'  jj?rn;:  *ncn  31  mn 
•fensn  311  rrbic^SD  meu  rp^ir  ynis 

In  discussion  with  Rabh  Acha,  Rabh  Hasda  used  to 
remark,  slightingly  :  (Pesachim  33,  Nedar  59)  f^  |N!D 

131  PHY1  ^31^1  "p?  an(i  when  mentioning  some 
bold  decisions  of  his  teacher,  Rabh,  he  used  to  add  Qlp^H 
1111V3  JTiT  (Succa  33.)  In  asseverations  he  used  the 
exclamation  "By  God!1'  DM^H  (Berach.  54.) 

Upon  Rabh  Hasda's  death,  Rabba  bar  Nachmani  was 
appointed  the  head  of  the  college,  but  he  declined  in  favor 
of  Rabbi  Huna  bar  CJiija  ;  and  when  Rabbi  Huna  bar  Hija 
died,  after  a  few  years,  the  election  fell  again  upon  Rabba 
bar  Nachmani  and  upon  Rabbi  Joseph,  a  blind  man,  who 
translated  the  Prophets  into  the  Chaldean  language.  Only 
one  chief  was  needed,  and  it  was  agreed  to  lay  the  matter 
before  the  rabbis  in  Palestine  for  decision.  Rabba  bar 
Nachmani  was  a  great  Dialectician  and  Rabbi  Joseph  a 
great  halachist.  The  rabbis  of  Tiberias  decided  in  favor 
of  the  halachist,  Rabbi  Joseph,  but  in  the  meantime  he 
was  disadvised  by  an  astrologer  to  accept  the  office,  and  he 
declined  it.  Thus  Rabba  bar  Nachmani  became  the  head 
of  the  college  of  Pumbaditha. 

rai  \xro  pr  31 


JIQ  \rb 


rrby  ^3p  *6  rs'^w  ^on  nD*?  pn^  tern 

(Horijoth  14.)    .rDT1  31 


Rabba  bar  Nachmani  was  one  of  the  greatest  Dialecti- 
cians that  ever  lived  among  the  Jews  in  Babylon.  His 
great  dialectical  acuteness  the  Talmud  describes  in  the 
hyperbolic  language  :  "  If  God  be  in  controversy  with  the 
rabbis,  then  Bar  Nachmani  must  be  the  arbiter."  (Baba 
Meziah  86.) 


—  35  — 

-nna  -IDN  Tvrrp'n  jrp-n 
PDU  JNO  nsN  NEB  nsK  jrp*n 
TTP  ^N  DTO3  TIT 


On  account  of  his  poverty  and  mania  of  censuring  the 
people  of  Pumbaditha,  he  lived  on  no   good   terms   with 

them  (Sabbath  153)  NrVHDEID  n^lD  iT^  ^D"l>  but  de' 
pended  mostly  upon  the  subvention  he  received  from  Exi- 
larch,  Mar  Ukba  ben  Nehemia.  This  Exilarch,  it  seems, 
was  a  good  friend  to  him,  and,  in  the  name  of  Mar  Samuel, 
told  him  three  halachas  : 

a.  Any  contract  made  in  a  non-  Jewish  court  is  valid. 

b.  Though  according  to  the  Jewish  law  the  occupant  of 
real  estate  for  three   successive   years,  that   property  not 
being  claimed  justly  by  anybody  in  the  meantime,  is  the 
rightful  owner  of  it;  still  the  Jews  in  Persia  must  wait 
forty  years  before  they  can  become  rightful  owners  of  such 
property,    because  "  that  is   Persian    law." 


G.  The  Jewish  law,  which  does  not  allow  the  one  who 
pays  tax  for  a  man  unable  to  pay  to  keep  the  poor  man's 
field,  is  not  obligatory  for  the  Jews  in  Persia.  (Baba  Batra 

45.)  vpm  inra)  Npoco1?  KJDN  pn  nnni-  At 

that  time  the  political  horizon  of  the  Jews  in  Babylon  be- 
came cloudy.  King  Sabur  II.  was  hostile  against  the  Jews, 
the  chiefs  of  the  college  of  Pumbitha  were  forced  to  flee 
before  the  soldiers.  Later  Rabba  bar  Nachmani  was 
charged  with  giving,  through  his  lecturing  in  Pumbaditha, 
twelve  thousand  Israelites  from  the  country  an  opportunity 
to  escape  the  collectors  of  personal  tax.  He  fled,  but  death 
overtook  him  while  sitting  in  a  tree. 

His  successor  in  the  college  of  Pumbaditha  was  his 
nephew,  Abaji  bar  Nachmani,  who  was  brought  up  in  his 
uncle's  house  and"  enjoyed  the  diligent  care  of  his  uncle. 


—  36  — 


NIP!  ^Dan  *~\r\n  re*!-  Abaji  was  quite  young 
when  his  uncle  detected  in  him  great  promising  talents, 
and  he  used  to  say:  ''The  gourds  can  be  recognized  in  the 
buds."  (Erubin29.)  Jp-p  NDCDpC  p$l3  pyQ.  His  hopes 
were  well  founded,  for  Abaji's  dialectical  acuteness  and 
dexterity  became  proverbial  i^K™!  nVin  (Synhed.  26), 

and  still  he  could  not  maintain  the  reputation  of  his  col- 
lege, but  lived  to  see  the  glory  of  Pumbaditha  fading,  and 
the  number  of  his  disciples  so  diminished  that  he  called 
his  college  "an  orphan  among  the  orphans/'  (Ketuboth 

106.)  Norn  Korp. 

The  cause  of  the  decline  of  Abaji's  college  was  Raba  bar 
Joseh,  who,  being  an  unequaled  Dialectician,  instituted  a 
college  in  Machuza,  where  his  great  reputation,  combining 
all  the  qualities  and  abilities  of  an  ideal  Babylonian  rabbi, 
was  a  great  attraction  for  the  disciples  of  all  other  colleges. 

Abaji,  who  boasted   of  himself,  UI  am   the  second  Ben 

Asai,"   tfnM-i  NplEG  W  pD  ^N  m  "3N  -138 

(Sota  45),  was  so  totally  eclipsed  by  Raba  bar  Joseph  that 
only  six  points  at  issue  with  Rabba  Abaji's  decisions 

were    final,    Q"j"      ^'"0    "Ittn   rPttlD 


Abaji  lived  to  see  the  persecutions  of  the  Jews  by  Con- 
st a  ntinus. 

The  College  of  Machuza. 

Raba  bar  Joseph,  a  disciple  and  a  son-in-law  of  Rabh 
Hasda,  the  President  of  the  Pumbaditha  College,  established 
the  college  of  Machuza. 

His  great  scholarship,  brilliant  intellect,  progressive 
energy,  combined  with  a  noble  character  and  affability, 
made  his  college  an  attraction  for  thousands  of  disciples, 
placed  him  ahead  of  the  rabbis  in  Babylon,  and  made  iiii.i 
a  favorite  of  the  people  of  Machuza.  • 


—  37  — 

Abaji,  the  President  of  the  Pumbaditha  College,  viewed 
with  envy  the  ascendancy  of  Raba  over  the  people  and 
imputed  it  to  Raba's  indulging  the  faults  of  the  people  of 

Machuza.     NH3  ^3  PP^ 


'•BCD      DI  DI^D 


But  Raba  ascribed  his  popularity  to  his  impartiality  and 
to  the  good,  sound  sense  of  the  people  of  Machuza.  I  was 
thinking  that  all  the  people  of  Machuza  loved  me,  though 
in  my  capacity  as  judge  I  can  but  expect  only  one  party  to 
have  good  feeling  toward  me  ;  but,  to  judge  from  their  sub- 
mission to  my  impartial  decisions,  I  can  not  but  think  that 
either  they  all  love  me  or  that  they  all  hate  me. 
(Ketuboth  115.) 

Raba  is  the  greatest  among  the  rabbis  of  the  Talmud,  and 
still  only  a  little  attention  was  devoted  to  his  teaching  and 
life  by  modern  historians  and  biographers.  Dr.  Jost  tells 
a  few  historical  remarks  about  him  and  represents  him  as 
an  active,  energetic  and  enlightened  man,  who  devoted 
much  attention  to  the  cause  of  education.  (Gitin  37  ;  JBaba 
Bathra  2  ;  Baba  Meziah  109  ;  Maccot  16.) 

Dr.  Graetz  selected  Raba  as  a  victim  of  his  libelling 
mania.  He  misrepresents  him  as  a  selfish,  egotistical  and 
low  character  and  a  sophist  in  the  meanest  acceptation  of 
the  term.  Raba  is  charged  by  Dr.  Grsetz  with  self-aggran- 
dizing motives  and  selfishness,  because,  in  Dr.  Graetz's 
opinion,  he  sought  to  deprive  Rabh  Mari  of  the  inheritance 
his  father,  the  proselyte  Issor,  deposited  for  him  with  Raba. 

The  passage  in  the  Talmud  to  which  Dr.  Graetz  refers 
relates  something  quite  the  reverse,  and  it  requires  the 
imagination,  inaccuracy  and  partiality  of  Dr.  Graetz  to 
make  such  a  discovery  in  that  passage.  Every  sober  Tal- 
mudist  knows,  according  to  the  Talmud,  Baba  Bathra  149, 
that  it  was  not  Raba  who  would  cheat  the  Rabh  Mari  out 
of  his  inheritance,  but  that  it  was  Raba  who  was  cheated 
out  of  a  sum  of  money  that  was  allotted  to  him  by  virtue 
of  the  traditional  law  of  the  Jews. 


—  38  — 

Raba  had  such  a  strong  claim  on  that  sum  of  money  that 
when  cheated  out  of  it  he  complained  of  having  suffered  a 
loss,  and  complained  in  an  indignant  tone  without  being 
remonstrated  with  by  any  one  concerned  in  the  affair.  In 
this  light  it  was  taken  by  Altasi,  Nimuke  Joseph,  and  Mor- 
dechai. 

A  law  may  be  unjust,  but  so  long  as  it  is  consistent  no 
one  has  a  right  to  accuse  another  of  meanness,  selfishness 
and  injustice  m  availing  himself  of  it. 

Raba's  action  was  not  considered  even  morally  wrong  at 
that  time,  or  he  would  not  have  dared  to  speak  of  it  in  a 
city  like  Machuza,  populated  mostly  by  proselytes,  and 
especially  as  it  was  himself  who  reproved  the  Rabbi  Zeira 
II.  for  a  reckless  decision,  whereby  he  offended  the  prose- 
lytes of  Machuza  and  brought  upon  himself  their  odium. 
Dr.  Graetz  quotes  only  the  faults  he  imputed  to  Raba,  but 
leaves  unnoticed  any  of  his  own  merits.  Such  unfairness 
is  unworthy  an  historian. 

One  of  the  many  examples  not  mentioned  by  Dr.  Graetz, 
testifying  to  Raba's  honesty  and  high  tone  of  morality,  is : 
Rabh  Papa  and  Rabh  Huna  hired  boatmen  to  carry  them 
over  the  stream  Nahar  Malka,  but,  by  incidents  unforeseen 
and  not  within  their  control,  the  boatmen  were  prevented 
from  keeping  the  agreement.  The  rabbis  urged  them  to 
keep  the  agreement,  and  to  transport  them  by  mules  on  a 
roundabout  way.  They  came  before  Raba,  who,  deciding 

in  favor  of  the  boatmen.  NilT^  N^"i  NS.31N'  rebuked  and 

reproved  the  rabbis,  saying:  u  Ye  unscrupulous,  hoary  men, 
wouldst  rob  the   boatmen   of  theif  clothes?"     (Gitin  73; 

Ketub  85.)  ipr&n  to^i  T6ffD  "nrn  "p^p- 

Is  that  the  language  of  an  unscrupulous  man  ?  Without 
citing  a  single  specimen  of  Raba's  dialectics,  Dr.  Graetz 
places  him  among  the  caviling  and  captious  sophists. 

Dr.  Graetz  might  have  written  differently  had  he  taken 
into  consideration  that  Raba's  halachic  maxims  breathe 
sound  sense;  that  he  treated  of  the  topics  of  the  time ;  that  he 
warned  the  people  of  the  many  devilish  sophists :  that  he 


—  39  — 

disapproved  of  Akiba's  severing  methods  ;  that  to  interpret 
the  Law  naturally  was  his  tantamount  principle  ;  and  that 
he  collected  and  observed  the  wisdom  embodied  in  popular 
adages,  which  no  other  rabbi  ever  did. 

<Sebacliim45;  SynhedrinSl.)  N1H  Kf 
(Berachoth  6.)    N^  fcOITn  \X,"1  KID 
(Bab  Bath.  111.)  .&Op  NpDSD  Wi 

*nD    N  n^D  minn  torn  JTK  ton 

(Yeb.  74.)    .pjB-JPB  1TD 


(Baba  Kama  73.) 

Another  great  fault  that  Raba  is  charged  with  by  Graetz, 
is  his  partiality  shown  to  his  colleagues,  the  rabbis.  It  is 
true,  Raba  conferred  some  privileges  upon  the  rabbis,  but 
not  at  the  sacrifice  of  the  autonomy  of  the  congregations, 
nor  at  the  expense  of  the  moral  character  of  the  rabbis. 

IT  p:o  D^DDH  rupra  "WOK  ^-noiKn  N:H  ^DK 

(Ketub.  38.)    .^ 


DDH 

(Yoma  72.)  .Q^ 
The  bestowal  of  certain  privileges  upon  the  rabbis  and 
the  conferring  of  favors  upon  his  colleagues  was  in  defense 
of  his  profession  to  protect  it  against  the  insults  and  ill- 
treatment  to  which  even  the  most  prominent  rabbis  were 
exposed  at  the  hands  of  the  overbearing  exilarchs  and 
their  servants. 

Even  Raba  himself  was  not  spared  the  insolence  of  the 
exilarch.  On  one  occasion  when  he  did  not  decide  in  con- 
formity with  the  wishes  of  the  exilarch,  the  exilarch  ap- 
plied to  him  the  passage  :  "  They  know  how  to  do  mischief, 

but  know  not  how  to   ameliorate."    JHTP  HE!"! 

(Erubin  26.)     .ty-p  $& 

But  Dr.  Graetz  mistakes  the  causes  and  the  effects,  and 

writes  that  the  rabbis  were  despised  because  they  were 


—  40  — 

made  a  privileged  class,  and  at  the  head  of  their  antago- 
nists was  the  family  of  the  physician,  Benjomi. 

The  historical  sources  know  nothing  about  an  antago- 
nistic party,  they  tell  only  about  the  family  of  the  physi- 
cian, Benjomi,  who  had  a  spite  against  Raba,  because  they 
considered  the  medical  advice,  which  he  occasionally  intro- 
duced through  his  lecture,  a  willful  encroachment  upon  the 
medical  profession  (Sabbath  133)  ;  and  they  resented  it  by 
instigating  among  the  people  the  question  :  "  Of  what  use 

are   the  rabbis?" 


(Synhed.  100.) 

"  They  do  not  allow  us  to  eat  the  ravens,  neither  do  they 
forbid  us  to  eat  the  doves."  But  whenever  they  sent  to 
Raba,  requesting  his  decision  on  some  religious  subject 
and  when  he  gave  a  favorable  opinion,  he  used  to  say,  taunt- 
ingly :  "  See,  I  have  allowed  you  to  eat  a  raven  ;"  and 
when  the  decision  was  prohibitory,  he  would  say:  "See,  I 
have  forbidden  you  to  eat  doves." 

The  attendance  of  the  people  at  Raba's  lectures  was  so 
large  that  he  used  to  beg  them,  in  justice  to  themselves^ 
not  to  attend  them  in  the  spring  and  autumn  seasons  lest 
their  harvesting  be  neglected  and  thereby  be  forced  to  live 
in  want.  (Berach.  37.)  Such  great  multitudes  flocking  to 
a  college  do  not  indicate  contempt  for  the  rabbinical 
profession. 

The  following  sentences  testify  to  Raba's  great  enlighten- 

ment: iDpi  tnan  Ninn  "WCCD  HDD  ran  nc« 
ran  KID:  NDpo  *6i  min  fcnso  wapo,  "  HOW  fooi- 

ish  are  they  who  arise  in  reverence  before  the  scrolls  of 
the  Law,  but  do  not  arise  in  respect  before  a  great  man." 
(Makkoth.) 

nnv  Dneio  ^m  -inn  ^2  ran  cm 

(Erubin  21.)     "  Pay  more  attention  to  the  inter- 
pretation of  the  sages  than  to  the  dead  letter  of  the  Law." 


—  41  — 

&6l  nPUOb  *6l  nKODPfe  "He  who  studies  the 
Law  diligently  need  not  bring  any  kind  of  animal  offering." 
(Sebachim  110.) 

Raba  was  not  favorable  to  long  prayers,  and  he  use  1  to 
say  it  was  proper  to  tell  the  people  that  it  is  sufficient 
when  man  reads  the  Shema  Yisroel  in  the  morning  and  in 

the  evening.    (Sebachim  99.)    T1D1&6  HlSC  -)DN 

•p«n  w 

"  The    Law    was    given    to    man    and    not    to   angels." 
(Berach.  25.)    .m£71  "0*6^  DTlf!  fUrU  &6 
"It  is  better  that  Israel  should  sin  ignorantly  than  pre- 
sumptuously."   (Beza   30.)     2^12    b&OE^!?  0»"6   PUi"! 

•D^TTO  TTP  ^i  D'm'iD  ivw 

Raba  being  very  rich,  he  was  taxed  very  highly  by  the 
Persian  King.  He  was  on  very  good  terms  with  the  Persian 
Queen,  Ifra,  and  had  so  far  won  her  confidence  that  she 
sometimes  made  him  her  almoner;  but  her  son,  SchaburlL, 
was  hostile  to  the  Jews,  whose  soldiers  pillaged  Raba's 
house  and  caused  him  to  flee. 

Upon  the  death  of  Raba  the  great  meteor  of  the  Machuza 
College  became  extinct,  and  the  Pumbaditha  College  re- 
gained its  pristine  rank, 

The  Editors  of  the  Talmud. 

The  first  man  who  wrote,  collected  and  arranged  all  the 
Post-Mish nah  traditions  was  Rabh  Ashi,  the  President  of 
the  College  of  Sura,  a  man  of  great  talents,  and  who 
possessed  a  great  store  of  traditional  knowledge.  What 
the  capuchin,  Henricus  Seynensis,  who  believed  the  Tal- 
mud was  a  man,  said:  u  Ut  narrat  Rabbinus  Talmud," 
might  justly  be  applied  to  Rabh  Ashi,  who,  indeed,  was  a 
living  Talmud.  At  that  time  Mose  de  Creta,  by  the  wand 
of  his  Messianic  enthusiasm,  kept  the  great  mass  of  the 
people  in  a  state  of  excitement  until  Rabh  Ashi  counter- 
acted his  influence  over  them.  The  Persian  King, 


—  42  — 

Jesdigeret,  a  great  friend  of  the  Jews,  invested  him  with 
great  authority. 

The  successors  of  Rabh  Ashi,  after  his  death,  427,  were  : 
Mar  Yemar,  Idi  bar  Abin,  Rabh  Nachman  bar  Huna  Tab- 
jorneh  and  Rabba  Tusfah.  Unlike  his  grandfather,  Jesdi- 
geret III.,  King  of  Persia,  persecuted  the  Jews  and  insisted 
upon  their  conversion  to  the  Persian  religion.  He  and  his 
successor,  King  Pheroces  or  Firuz  (458-485),  availed  him- 
self of  every  means  and  opportunity  to  apostatize  the 
Jews,  but  they  experienced  that  the  Jews  under  the  lead 
of  their  rabbis,  Tabjomeh  and  Tusfah,  had  rather  become 
martyrs  for  their  religion  than  to  allow  any  potentate  the 
encroachment  of  the  sanctuary  of  their  paternal  religion 
and  conscience. 

King  Firuz  died,  and  the  cruelly-persecuted  Jews,  again 
breathing  freely  in  their  colleges,  appointed  Rabina  the 
President  of  the  Sura  College,  and  who,  assisted  by  Rabbi 
Jose,  of  Pumbaditha,  continued  the  Talmud  collection 
and  compilation  commenced  by  Rabh  Ashi. 

Rabh  was  President  of  the  college  from  488  to  499. 
Rabina  is  the  editor  of  the  Babylonian  Talmud  in  its 
present  compilation,  but  that  does  not  alter  the  fact  that 
some  additions,  interpolations  and  small  alterations  have 
taken  place  even  long  after  Rabina's  death. 

The  Talmud  (Erubin  13)  contains  a  specimen  of  Rabina's 
sophistry.  His  contemporaries  could  not  understand  how 
it  was  possible  for  Symmachos,  a  disciple  of  Rabbi  Mair,  to 
prove  that  creeping  beings,  which  are  expressly  forbidden 
in  the  Law,  can  be  counted  among  the  clean  animals. 
Rabbina's  sophistry  made  it  clear  to  them. 

PIEI 


raisi  moo  w   r^  Y»-CD  nxci^  rai 


yip 


Characteristic  of  Rabina's  dialectical  turn  of  mind  is 
his  adage  (Megilla  7)  :  "Better  is  one  grain  of  pepper  than 
a  basket  full  of  gourds."  "H^K 


III. 

The  Antagonists  of  the  Rabbinical  Dialectics. 


The  Antagonists  of  the  Talmudical  Dialectics. 

One  of  the  most  distinguishing  traits  of  Judaism  is  the 
liberty  of  interpretation,  of  discussion  and  of  writing  it 
allowed  to  its  confessors.  It  was  not  only  in  the  Middle 
Ages  that  the  writings  of  the  most  orthodox  Authorities 
teemed  with  hetexodox  views — conspicuously  contradictory 
to  the  Bible  and  traditions,  and  which  among  other  religions 
would  have  savored  of  heresy,  fatal  to  the  authors — but 
also  at  those  times  when  a  Synhedrin  was  yet  in  existence* 
invested  with  the  authority  of  an  unrestricted  and  uncon- 
strained ecclesiastic  magistrate,  though  everybody  had 
to  submit  to  the  final  decision  of  the  Synhedrin,  yet  nobody 
could  be  punished  or  held  to  account  for  censuring  it.  The 
greatest  and  most  venerable  rabbis  were  censured  and  con- 
tradicted by  their  contemporaries,  and  even  the  autocratic 
Rabbi  Jehuda  was  often  incensed  by  the  taunting  remarks 
of  his  contemporaries,  Bar  Kappara  and  others. 

A  taciturn  submission  was  not  the  rule  of  the  rabbis,  and 
especially  not  when  a  case  or  event  or  teaching  concerned 
the  past,  the  present  and  future  of  Israel,  as  was  the  fact 
with  the  Dialectics. 

The  Dialectics  of  the  Mishnah  teachers  was  disliked  by 
the  Gamalielites,  who  believed  its  spread  endangered  their 
hereditary  authority.  The  dialectical  methods  of  the 
Babylonian  rabbis  were  disapproved  of  by  the  rabbis  of 
Palestine,  who  preferred  a  plain  discussion  and  simple 
annotation  to  the  Mishnah  to  all  hair-splitting  sophistry  and 
labyrinthian  windings  of  the  Babylonian  Dialectics. 


—  44  — 

The  rabbis  of  the  Talmud  Yerushal  mi  were  Dialecticians, 
too  and  many  subjects  are  very  profoundly,  lucidly  and 
fairly  treated  in  the  Talmud  Ferushalmi,  but  the  caviling, 
captiousness  and  the  mere  sophistic  display  of  acuteness 
does  not  often  recur. 

The    reatest  Dialectician  among  them  was  Rish  Lakish: 


(Synhed.  24.)     j-|T2  Hi  p 

TT  n^    •'ppD 

(Baba  Mez.  84.) 

He  is  the  author  of  very  interesting  dialectical  maxims 
(Chulinll5).  See  Appendix.  p^12  N21S1D  "SH  "3  ^ 

The  Palestinian  rabbis  were  so  opposed  to  the  hair- 
splitting Dialectics  of  the  Babylonian  schools,  that  when 
they  ordained  their  disciples  they  exhorted  them  not  to 
practice  sophistry  in  any  mode.  (Ketuboth  16.)  "C£D  "O 

fowiCD  p  i6'i  po^n  p  ^—  on  v 

-po^iD  p  ^i 

Some  of  the  well-known  antagonists  to  the  Talmudical 
Dialectics  were  Rabbi  Zeira,  Rabbi  Yirmijah  and  Rabbi 
Yoseh  ben  Chanina. 

Rabbi  Zeira. 

Rabbi  Zeira,  who  was  prejudiced  against  everything  that 
did  not  bear  the  Palestinian  impress,  used  to  say,  "The 
very  air  of  Palestine  imparts  wisdom."'  His  predilection 
and  veneration  for  the  authority  of  the  predecessors  were  so 
great  that  he  sacrificed  to  it  the  human  and  professional 
dignity  of  his  contemporaries,  saying,  tersely:  u  If  the  pre- 
decessors were  angels,  then  we  are  human  beings." 

^2  UN  D^rbs  ^3  D^vrann  £K  KTT  ^ri  I^N 
D'T^nr  I:K  DIN  ^  a^irxin  cxi  CIN-  (F^- 

bin  5*3.)    He  was  so  opposed  to  the  Dialectics  of  the  Baby 
Ionian  schools  that  he  applied  to  it  the  passage  :  "  The  poor 

man  sees  only  evil  days."    Q^* 


—  45  — 

byi  rn  Ten  nntyo  ib 


(Baba  Batra  145.)     When  he   was 
ordained  his  teachers  exhorted  him  to  abstain  from  all 


sophistry.  #  -on  rr    r\v  NTT  ""a?  pm  irso  ^ 
17.)  .n  nbjn  DOTD 


Rabbi  Yirmijah. 

Rabbi  Yirmijah,  a  disciple  of  Rabbi  Zeira,  was  still  a 
greater  antagonist  to  the  Talmudical  Dialectics.  He  at- 
tacked the  Dialecticians  by  irony  and  sarcasm,  and  who 
in  return  removed  him  several  times  from  the  college.  In 
Nidda  23,  Rosh  Hashannah  13,  Succa  12,  are  examples  of 
his  manner  of  ridiculing  the  Dialecticians,  by  asking  them, 
in  the  heat  of  their  discussions,  questions  which  by  their 
tone  betrayed  his  ironical  tendency.  Some  laughed,  while 
others  turned  him  out. 


TOT  ^ 
^b  imps**  *n  by}  ino  ns«  D^DHD  yin 

(B.  B.  23.)  .nt^ino  •'ap  »TDT 

After  his  return  from  Babylon  to  Palestine,  he  did  his  ut- 
most to  forget  the  dialectical  methods  which  he  had  learned 
in  Babylon,  and  applied  to  the  time  he  had  devoted  to  the 
study  of  the  Dialectics  the  passage  :  "  God  was  keeping  me 
in  darkness." 

bv  mc^n  ni  ^cnn  DT^nsn  TOT  ^i  *IDK 

baa 
bw  niD^n  naerin  v^n^yn  n«o  aTP  TDT  •'a^ 


Rcibbi  Joseh  bar  Chanina. 

Rabbi  Joseh  bar  Chanina   goes  by  the  anonym:  "The 
West  laughed   at  it."     (Synhedrin   17.)     j-p^J?  12 


Specimens  of  his  satire  are  in  Bezah  13;   Synhed.   109; 
Nasir  42;  Shebuoth  26;   Yebamoth  88;   Baba  Kama  102. 


-46  — 

He  speaks  also  ol  a  Genius  of  the  Dialectics,  whom  he  de. 
picts  as  reckless  even  toward  God,  palliating  and  resolute 

nrh  b  w  mop  :  «r:n  in 


(Synhed.  44.)    .pJo  J1CCDN  flpDD 


Those  of  the  Babylonian  rabbis  who  were  merely  plain 
halachists  and  no  Dialecticians  were  no  opponents  to  Dia- 
lectics. They  rather  envied  their  colleagues  for  such  nat- 
ural acuteness,  but  they  disapproved  of  the  Dialectics  when 
it  became  extreme  sophistry.  The  blind  Rabh  Scheches 
sneeringly  said  of  the  extreme  methods  of  the  Pumbaditha 
College :  u  In  Pumbaditha  they  carry  an  elephant  through 

a  needle  ear."  (Baba  Meziah  38.)  WVQOISO  N^T) 
NEnD"!  N2lpn  ^2  "^"W!  Kin-  After  its  comple- 
tion the  Talmud  was  considered  the  key-stone  of  all  wis- 
dom, the  authority  in  all  decisions  and  the  source  of  all 
knowledge,  and  woe  to  a  rabbi  who  had  dared  to  criticise 
the  teachings,  the  methods  or  the  rabbis  of  the  Talmud. 

The  Post-Talmudical  works  on  the  Talmud  written  by  the 
rabbis  of  Arabia,  Spain  and  France  are  distinguished  by 
simplicity  and  naturalness,  and  bear  a  classical  stamp, 
while  the  rabbinical  literature,  written  by  the  rabbis  of 
Poland,  Russia,  Hungary,  Bohemia  and  Germany,  up  to 
Moses  Mendelssohn,  is,  with  some  exceptions,  an  amazing 
labyrinth  of  confusion,  obstrusiveness  and  absurdity. 

The  number  of  rabbis  who,  even  in  those  dark  ages,  raised 
their  voices  against  such  unmethodical  and  sophistical  pro- 
ceedings was  not  small.  One  of  those  men  who  opposed  such 
proceedings  against  sound,  common  sense,  as  time-wasting, 
useless  and  perverse,  was  Rabbi  Jair  Chajim  Bacharach, 
whowrotein  the  seventeenth  century:  "Do  no'  allow  your 
son  to  waste  his  time  with  the  futile  dialectical  studies.'' 
(Response  123,  Chawoth  Yair.) 

bv  rnenna   iraftrro  uct 


A  Dialectical  /Schematism. 


The  -iSim     p  category,    (a) 
DlpDD  »DWD  !?ff  ,K"nD   ^  ,p  btf  Itflfll 

rp 


p  loirn  >p  p 

The  analysis  of  a 


p 

The  restrictions  of   a  "")Jpl!"V)  7p.    (c) 

jniD  nrn^  pn  )o 

(B.  K.  25)    .ip  -pDD 
NT"! 


II  APPENDIX. 

irK  bprh  IBIDI  Tsnn1?  irfrnn  p  nn«s;  p  bs 

(Pesachim  27.)     .p^ 

n'no  on  ^i  D^DID  nniD  nmn  "nm  p:n  p« 

(Pesachim  65.)     D"™"^  D""!  ^^1 

D^HD  n^ini  ^>p  pjn  p« 
!7.)  rnn  p  j^^nic  r« 

(Synhed.  74.) 
DTD-    The  invalidation  of  a 


no 
^a  On):  MB^DM 


nm  D  JWID  nsn  no 
6  inn  ^    ^no 


(Chulin  115.) 


APPENDIX.  .     IU 


The  Geserah  Schawah  based  on  objects,    (a) 

11  jron  *ai  jron  3fcn  bwDfcn  ">:n 
iD*n  fcc^n  fcOM  N^D  ^n  n*ra  fcon  IT 
•p^b'1  rrb  •'CTID  n^  i£-n  ^^  ^ 

(Chulin85;  Erab  51.) 

The  Geserah  Schawah  derived  from  expressions.     (5) 

31  DV^D  ^XID^  ID«  nmn*1 

rrru 


pi^  ten 

(Nidda  22;  Yebamoth  70.) 
The  tranfer  of  the  Geserah  Schawah  peculiarities,     (c) 

nro  JHDI  .nroi  nro  p-a 


in  120.)  .mn«n  '•pi^i  nro  |n 
o^  ^" 

(Critoth  22.) 


Hekesh  means,  when  of  two  subjects,  which  are  in  one 
passage,  only  of  one  is  spoken,  but  both  are  meant.. 
(Kid  77.) 

ion 


wn  pnnn  pnn  n1?  now 


IV  APPENDIX. 

n-raa  IS'^DI  inn  px  ppv,a  ivbr\  iaii 
inn  PN  fc'pvo  ic^n  ian 

2^:21  inn  E^pnia  isbn 
^'^  ina  i^im 
i«y  nTua  i^v^  ino  i£im 
?iDim  ^pa  i^*1^  MO  isini  ^pa  it: 
nTuai  ^pMa  113^  no  a^  |^:aa 

(Sebachim  48,  49,  50,  51.) 

iv.-ax  pa 

Rabbi  Yosuah  ben  Chananja  calls  the  "jnN  ainD^D  aK  T^a 
also  I^SD  (1C-    The  Q^airD  ^^'D  -^  TJa  is  also  called 
].    The  recurrence  P™i1  1*n  commences  with  the 


term  |"|]  ^"IHD  HT  "HH  ^7?  but  the  coincidence  commences 
with  the  term 


The  restrictions  of  the 

n^an  c^airo  ^^  noi«  nmnn 

(Synhed.  67.) 

in^a  o^an  D^aina  ^^  i^\x  ^N^S:^ 

(Kidushin  37,  58.)     VHE^J 
(Yebomoth  103,) 
(Kidushin  28.) 

(Chulin  98.)     p^^  K1?   P&HDD  P 
(B.M.20,  Berach  19.) 

(Synhed.  71.) 


(Succoth50;  Yebam.  46;  Menach.  82.) 


APPENDIX. 


(Sebach.  4.)     p-j  Q 

f  pnnsn  BIBI  ^?D  Tn  DIPD  •'p.mcDEK  nm  * 
p:"]  pK  HTO  ni  ppnnon  COIDI  ^D  ^DI  mo  ni 

(Menachoth  55.)     fa*\$]  bh 

HTD  m  ppnnsn  sro  i^ 


(Nidda  33.) 


(Erubin.  27.) 

p  mi.T  ^11  ^r  ^ 


D  13D 

(Synhed.  78;  Berachoth  3.) 


(Pesach.  61.)     ^D^D  IHSpD 
(Pesach.  43.) 

"bzr  cste 

(Sebach.  82.) 

(Maccoth   14.)     " 


-jni:    " 

(Chulin78;  Synhed.  85;  B.  M.  94.) 


(Crises  14;  Chulinl  01.) 


VI  APPENDIX. 


penm  PB^DIDI  pjnu   "D  DUiycttN  p  Nr:r 

(Bechoroth  44.) 

®yvb  c^ysi  nin5?  cray^  jrcn- 

(Baba  Kama  77-78.) 

(Baba  Kama  56.) 

17.)  inm  m  xcDirsi  ri 


(Synhed.  17,  51;  Temura  2.) 

pnv  ^1 

(Chulin  118.) 

nibnn  p 

(Synhed.  3.) 


(Pesach.  71;  Kid.  4;  (Chulin  118.) 

(M.  Tanchuma,  Terumah.)     niinD  im^Dl  D*lp1D 


'conB  pini  XDISI  ^r  pin  n 


rri>  ^11  NCDIB  «D"« 

N^DI  ^12  nn  p^io  n^  ins 
inn  p^ns  pus  ^^^  'c"n 

(Nosir  35;   Erubin  28.) 


(Kesuboth  32;  Kidu  78.) 


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